pr 


Poetry  in  the  Limburger  Chronik, 


UK-   Jl'l.l  L'S   GOKBKI. 

JOHNS  HOPKINS  UNIVERSITY. 


[Reprinted  from  THE  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OK  PHILOLOGY.] 


BALTIMORE: 
PRESS  OP  ISAAC  FRIBDBNWALD, 

1888. 


pr 


[Reprinted  from  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OP  PHILOLOGY,  Vol.  VIII,  No.  2.] 

II.— POETRY  IN  THE  LIMBURGER  CHRONIK. 

I. 

Travelling  through  the  romantic  valley  of  the  Lahn,  we  meet 
about  half  way  between  Wetzlar  and  the  Rhein  the  beautiful 
ancient  city  of  Limburg.  Situated  in  one  of  the  most  fertile  parts 
of  Germany,  commonly  called  "der  goldne  Grund,"  and  chiefly 
inhabited  by  a  Catholic  population,  the  city  with  its  surroundings, 
especially  during  festive  days,  still  bears  a  mediaeval  appearance. 
Its  cathedral,  with  an  abbey  founded  in  the  tenth  century,  belongs 
to  the  master-works  of  the  thirteenth  century,  and  is  said  to  con- 
tain the  tomb  of  the  German  emperor,  Conrad  I,  who  died  in  918. 
Limburg,  however,  has  become  still  more  celebrated  in  the  history 
,  of  German  literature  by  reason  of  the  chronicle  which  was  written 
there  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fourteenth  century. 

Not  only  containing  numerous  accounts  of  events  which  are  of 
great  value  for  the  local  history  of  the  city  and  the  bordering 
principalities,  but  also  giving  highly  interesting  descriptions  of  the 
costumes,  as  well  as  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  fourteenth 
CJ*  century,  of  music  and  painting,  and,  above  all,  preserving  many 
&  songs  of  that  period,  our  chronicle  must  very  early  have  enjoyed 
a  great  popularity,  as  we  may  see  from  the  number  of  manuscripts 
in  which  it  is  preserved  to  us.  When  later,  during  the  time  of  the 
Reformation  and  under  the  influence  of  the  humanists,  an  interest 
in  the  study  of  German  antiquities  was  awakened,  a  rich  patrician 
of  Frankfort-a-M.,  Johann  Friedrich  Faust,  for  the  first  time 
published  it  in  1617.  Two  years  later  a  second  edition  was 
necessary.  This  edition,  brought  out  under  the  unsuitable  name  of 
"  Fasti  Limburgenses,"  has,  in  spite  of  its  many  defects,  until 
recently  been  the  main  source  of  information  concerning  the 
chronicle.  The  succeeding  generation,  having  lost  through  the 
Thirty  Years  War  its  national  self-consciousness,  did  not  know  how 
to  appreciate  the  value  of  the  book.  One  editor,  in  1747,  even 
complains  :  "  dass  der  Historicus  sich  hie  und  dort  mit  Kleinig- 
keiten  aufhalte,  .zum  Exempel  mit  der  Kleider-Mode,  mit  der 
Witterung,  mit  einfaltigen  Liedgern." 


The  two  great  reformers  of  German  literature,  Lessing  and 
Herder,  with  their  keen  eye  for  the  poetical  element  and  their 
deep  historical  predilections,  again  called  attention  to  this  important 
document  of  the  fourteenth  century.  Thus  we  find  in  Lessing's 
posthumous  works,1  under  the  chapter  Beitrage  zur  Geschichte 
der  deutschen  Sprache  und  Literatur  von  den  Minnes'angern  bis 
auf  Luthern  1777,  numerous  extracts  from  the  chronicle,  which  he 
characterizes  with  the  following  words  :  "  Es  ist  die  alteste  deutsche 
Chronik,  so  viel  ich  weiss,  ausserst  merkwiirdig,  weil  sie  so  viele 
besondere  Kleinigkeiten  mitnimmt,  dass  sie  auch  fleissig  der 
Lieder  gedenkt,  die  jedes  Jahr  am  meisten  gesungen  wurden,  und 
sie  also  noch  oft  von  mir  wird  angefiihrt  werden  miissen." 

Herder's  opinion  of  the  value  of  the  Limburger  Chronik  was  so 
high  that  he  intended  to  give  long  extracts  from  it  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  third  book  of  his  celebrated  Volkslieder.2  Seeing, 
however,  that  it  would  take  too  much  space,  he  quotes  only  a  few 
sentences  from  it,  finally  giving  its  whole  title,  and  expressing  the 
wish  that  some  one  else  would  make  proper  use  of  it.  His  advice 
has  not  been  followed.  While  some  collectors  of  popular  poetry 
like  Uhland,  Erk,  Bbhme  and  others,  inserted  one  or  two  of  the 
songs  into  their  collections,  the  fame  of  our  chronicle  really  rested 
on  a  few  scanty  and,  for  the  most  part,  erroneous  remarks  in  our 
histories  of  German  literature.  The  principal  reason  for  this  lack 
of  attention  may,  perhaps,  be  found  in  the  want  of  a  critical  edition  ; 
for,  strange  to  sa'y,  until  1883  we  had  nothing  but  a  careless  reprint 
of  the  imperfect  edition  of  Faust.  We  owe  it  to  the  diligent 
research  of  Arthur  Wyss  that  we  now  possess  an  excellent  edition 
of  the  chronicle  in  the  Monumenta  Germaniae  Historica.  In  his 
little  treatise  "Die  Limburger  Chronik  untersucht  von  Arthur 
Wyss,"  he,  for  the  first  time,  inquires  into  the  relation  of  the 
different  MSS,  at  the  same  time  settling  the  question  as  to  the 
authorship  of  our  document.  The  results  of  his  investigations 
being  reinforced  by  fortunate  discoveries,  were  afterwards  embodied 
in  his  large  edition  just  named. 

An  inquiry  into  the  nature  of  the  poetry  contained  in  the 
Limburger  Chronik,  its  origin,  and  its  relation  to  former  and  later 
lyrics,  may  be  justified  by  various  reasons.  While  the  student 
will  perhaps  welcome  a  handy  collection  of  the  songs  interspersed 
in  the  Chronik  which  he  now  can  only  find  in  the  insufficient  form 
of  Faust's  text,  made  by  a  dilettante  musician  in  the  Jahrbuch  filr 

1  Lessing,  ed.  Lachmann,  XI  468.      *  Herder,  ed.  Suphan,  XXV  320,  459. 


musikalische  Wissenschaft,1  he  will  probably  also  wish  for  a  critical 
text.  For  Arthur  Wyss,  in  his  laudable  effort  to  give,  by  the  aid 
of  certain  documents,  the  original  form  of  the  chronicle,  has 
frequently,  for  the  sake  of  a  "  normalisirte  Text,"  reconstructed  the 
language,  not  always  to  the  advantage  of  the  poems.  The  prin- 
cipal aim  of  this  paper,  however,  will  be  to  inquire  whether  the 
poetry  in  our  chronicle  is  "  Volkspoesie,"  or  whether  it  belongs  to 
the  declining  "  Minnepoesie  "  or  the  rising  "  Meistergesang."  A 
very  interesting  and  lively  discussion  as  to  the  age  of  lyrical  Volks- 
poesie, which,  of  course,  would  also  affect  other  forms  of  poetry, 
has  recently  been  carried  on,  growing  out  of  certain  views  of 
Wilmanns.2  Starting  from  the  fact  that  documents  from  the  time 
before  1160  are  wanting,  he  has  denied  the  existence  of  any  such 
poetry  previous  to  that  year.  Burdach 3  and  Richard  M.  Meyer " 
have  tried  to  controvert  this  opinion  by  the  use  of  various  argu- 
ments, without  appealing,  however,  to  the  songs  in  the  Limburger 
Chronik.  Now,  could  it  be  proved  that  the  poetry  which  has 
been  handed  down  to  us  in  our  chronicle  was  in  no  way  influenced 
by  the  development  of  artistic  lyrical  poetry  in  the  thirteenth  cen- 
tury, could  we  further  show  that  a  close  relation  exists  between  the 
contents,  the  metrical  forms,  the  poetical  expressions,  etc.,  of  our 
songs  and  the  beginnings  of  the  Minnepoesie  as  represented  in 
"  Minnesangs  Friihling "  as  well  as  in  the  Volkslieder  of  the 
fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries,  then  I  believe  we  shall  be  justi- 
fied in  drawing  a  conclusion  as  to  the  age  of  German  Volkspoesie 
in  general. 

To  this  end  it  does  not  suffice  that  we  have  the  assurance  of 
the  author  of  our  Chronik :  "  item  zu  diser  zit  da  sang  und 
pfelf  man  dit  lit  overalle,"  or  "  in  alien  Duschen  landen." 

It  is  necessary  to  fix  the  position  and  character  of  the  Limburger 
Chronik  among  similar  documents  of  the  time,  and  to  ascertain, 
above  all,  whether  its  author  probably  composed  the  songs  himself 
while  in  his  poetical  vanity  he  gave  them  the  attribute  of  popularity. 

The  Chronicle  of  Limburg  belongs  to  that  class  of  historical 
literature  which  had  a  rich  development  at  the  close  of  the 
thirteenth  and  during  the  fourteenth  century,  owing  to  a  deeper 
and  more  widespread  interest  in  historical  matters  as  it  is  found 
especially  among  the  citizens  of  the  great  German  cities.6  They 

1  I  115.  2  Wilmanns,  Leben  Walthers  v.  d.  Vogelw.  16. 

3  Zeitsch.  f.  d.  A.  XXVII  343  ff.  4  Ibid.  XXIX  121  ff. 

5  Cf.  O.  Lorenz,  Deutschlands  Geschichtsquellen  im  Mittelalter.  Wattenbach, 
Geschichtsquellen. 


are  not  men  of  broad  views  and  profound  learning,  like  the  his- 
torians in  the  times  of  the  Hohenstaufen,  who  now  try  to  supply 
the  demand  of  readers.  Recruiting  their  ranks  mostly  from 
the  lower  nobility,  from  the  citizens  and  the  clergy,  they  make  it 
their  chief  object  to  be  popular.  And  corresponding  with  the 
course  of  German  politics,  with  the  decline  of  imperial  power  and 
the  rise  of  territorial  interests,  we  find  that  most  of  these  historical 
documents  are  local  histories,  chronicles  of  cities.  At  that  time 
we  scarcely  meet  with  an  attempt  to  write  a  general  history  of  the 
world  or  to  penetrate  by  deeper  reasoning  the  course  of  historical 
events.  But  while  they  betray  a  charming  naivete'  in  the  absence 
of  thoughts,  these  chroniclers  cannot  be  called  free  from  certain 
motifs.  Historical  legends,  which  to  a  great  extent  form  the 
charm  of  the  earlier  historians,  are  almost  entirely  wanting,  and 
whenever  they  are  introduced,  it  is  done,  not  with  the  naive  credu- 
lity of  earlier  centuries,  but  with  the  consciousness  of  an  intention 
to  produce  certain  effects.  Being  thus  the  representatives  of  a 
very  prosaic  view  of  the  world,  they  did  well  to  choose  the  form 
of  prose  for  their  productions,  for  they  are  intolerable  as  soon  as 
they  try  to  become  poetical.  But  as  writers  of  German  prose, 
which  assured  them  great  popularity,  they  deserve  a  high  place  in 
the  history  of  German  literature.  The  great  development  of 
almost  all  poetical  forms  during  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries 
scarcely  left  space  for  the  use  of  prose  as  it  had  been  cultivated  in 
tne  latter  part  of  the  tenth  century  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Gall. 
It  was  relegated  to  the  position  of  the  sole  medium  of  expression 
of  theological  literature,  for  the  popular  form  of  sermons,  or  the 
more  scientific  writings  which  contain  the  philosophical  specu- 
lations of  the  mystics.  A  close  relation  between  the  language  of 
bodies  of  laws  like  the  "  Sachsenspiegel  "  and  "  Schwabenspiegel  " 
may  also  be  observed. 

The  gradual  turning  toward  a  more  prosaic  view  of  the  world, 
the  favored  use  of  popular  German  prose,  and  the  awakening 
interest  in  historical  studies  are  principally  due,  however,  to  the 
two  great  orders,  the  Franciscans  and  Dominicans.  It  was  only 
natural  that  the  Church  should  start  a  movement  of  reaction  against 
the  spirit  of  a  time  which  resembles  very  much  that  of  the  classical 
times  of  Lessing,  Kant,  Goethe  and  Schiller.  Poetry  which,  to 
the  middle  of  the  eleventh  century,  had  been  cultivated  almost 
exclusively  by  the  clergy,  had  become  an  ethical  power  in  the 
hands  of  knights  and  burghers.  Their  ideals  were  independent 


of  those  of  the  Church,  they  preached  religious  tolerance,  and  in 
Walther  von  der  Vogelweide  the  Pope  had  one  of  his  most  dan- 
gerous enemies.  As  the  great  mass  of  the  German  clergy  had  no 
influence  upon  their  own  people,  the  Pope  in  his  reactionary  efforts 
very  prudently  made  use  of  those  orders,  whose  original  purpose 
was  the  conversion  of  heretics  not  only  in  South  France  but  also 
in  Germany.  For  here,  too,  the  belief  of  the  Church  had  been 
dangerously  shaken,  and  stories  of  saints  and  miracles  found  no 
believers,  according  to  a  contemporary,  unless  the  preacher  added 
carefully  the  exact  place  and  time  where  such  miraculous  occur- 
rences had  taken  place.  It  seems  that  clerical  astuteness  speedily 
took  this  practical  hint,  and  we  soon  see  them  collecting  accounts 
of  all  kinds  of  events,  historical  and  miraculous,  thus  producing 
an  endless  literature  of  more  or  less  value.  The  Franciscans,  who 
gave  Germany  some  of  its  greatest  preachers,  made  these  collec- 
tions mostly  for  practical  homiletic  use ;  they  were  the  arsenals 
from  which  the  monks  took  arms  for  attacking  the  gay,  worldly 
life  in  the  castles,  the  cities  and  the  country.  The  Dominicans,  on 
the  other  hand,  who,  from  the  beginning,  show  more  scientific  ten- 
dencies, manifest  the  same  spirit  in  their  treatment  of  history.  The 
order  which  produced  scholastics  like  Albertus  Magnus,  the  cele- 
brated teacher  of  Thomas  Aquinas,  of  whom  jealous  Franciscans 
said,  "Albertus  ex  asino  factus  est  philosophus  et  ex  philosopho 
asinus  " — the  same  order  created  a  rich  historical  literature  bearing 
the  character  of  compilations  like  many  of  their  theological  works. 
Like  the  Franciscans  they  either  wrote  themselves  chronicles  of 
cities,  or  persuaded  others  to  do  so.  A  brief  sketch  of  the  literary 
life  and  the  tendencies  of  these  orders  was  necessary  in  order  to 
characterize  the  author  of  our  chronicle,  who,  as  we  shall  find,  also 
belonged  to  the  clergy. 

Various  accounts  of  the  authorship  of  the  Chronicle  of  Limburg 
were  given  by  the  different  publishers,  until  Arthur  Wyss,  in  his 
excellent  little  treatise,  proved  beyond  doubt  that  it  was  written  by 
Tilemann  Elhem  von  Wolf  hagen.  From  several  documents  recently 
reprinted  in  Wyss's  large  edition  of  our  chronicle,  it  appears 
that  Tilemann  was  town  clerk  of  the  city  of  Limburg  from  1370-98. 
From  the  same  source  we  learn  that  he  belonged  to  the  diocese  of 
Treves.  Wolfhagen,  therefore,  a  village  not  far  from  Cassel,  is 
evidently  his  native  place,  and  he  was  born  there  probably  about 
the  year  1347  ;  for,  in  chapter  13  of  the  chronicle,  he  says,  "  You 
shall  know,  everything  that  happened  between  1347  and  1402  has 


happened  in  my  days,  and  I  have  through  God's  help  seen  it  with 
my  eyes  and  heard  from  my  childhood  until  now."  Although  an 
ecclesiastic  brought  up  in  one  of  the  monastic  schools  of  Maintz, 
he  calls  himself  in  the  barbarous  Latin  of  his  time  clericus  uxoratust 
the  name  of  his  wife  being  Grede.  It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  he 
was  not  an  ordained  priest,  but  had  changed  his  original  calling  to 
that  of  an  imperial  notary  and  town  clerk  of  Limburg. 

Much  more  than  these  few  scanty  notes  upon  his  life,  however, 
may  be  gained  from  Tilemann's  work,  in  order  to  draw  a  picture  of 
the  man.  Frequent  quotations  from  Aristotle,  Cato,  the  Corpus  Juris 
and  the  Bible  show  that  he  was  a  man  well  trained  in  the  scholastic 
learning  of  his  time.  His  mention  of  Johannes  Buridan  (1327-50), 
the  pupil  of  Occam  and  inventor  of  the  "  ass  between  two  bundles  of 
hay,"  probably  serves  to  show  that  Tilemann,  for  a  time  at  least,  had 
studied  under  the  great  philosopher  in  Paris.  Remembering  the 
picture  of  the  theological  world  of  his  time,  the  motives  and  efforts 
of  the  Dominicans  and  Franciscans,  we  must,  however,  say  that 
Tilemann  represents  a  great  exception.  While  he  shares  their 
interest  in  the  writing  of  history,  while  he  still  feels  himself  an 
ecclesiastic  and  condemns  certain  heretical  movements  as  directed 
against  the  Church  and  the  Pope,  he  does  not  share  their  fanatic 
hatred  of  poetry  and  worldly  education.  Nowhere  in  the  chronicle 
do  we  find  even  a  trace  that  he  was  led  by  theological  motives  or 
followed  the  tendencies  of  the  other  chroniclers,  and  only  from  a 
few  passages  can  we  infer  that  he  consulted  other  historical 
sources. 

He  relates,  according  to  his  own  confession,  what  he  has  seen 
and  heard ;  the  contents  of  the  chronicle  are,  therefore,  taken  from 
life,  and  to  this  it  owes  its  lasting  charm.  We  hear  not  only  of 
lesser  or  greater  political  events,  but  he  tells  us  also  of  the  weather 
in  different  years,  the  harvest,  the  quality  of  the  wine,  and  of 
abnormal  births.  From  him  we  learn  of  one  of  the  first  historical 
strikes,  of  social  and  religious  movements ;  and  to  him  we  owe 
most  valuable  accounts  of  important  paintings,  as  well  as  of  the 
costumes  not  only'  of  men  but  also  of  women — for  he  was  a  mar- 
ried man.  His  principal  interest,  however,  seems  to  have  been 
concentrated  upon  the  arts  of  music  and  poetry.  And  while  we 
may  safely  conclude  that  a  man  of  such  wide  interests,  that  such 
a  keen  and  faithful  observer,  can  never  have  gone  through  the 
school  of  one  of  the  fanatical  orders  above  mentioned,  but  rather 
belongs  to  the  old  conservative  class  of  ecclesiastics  who  joined 


the  knights  and  citizens  in  their  gay,  poetic  life,  we  must  still  ask 
how  it  is  possible  to  meet  with  such  a  unique  personality  in  this 
century  ?  Comparing  other  chronicles  with  a  view  to  the  poetry 
which  they  contain,  we  frequently  find  songs  scattered  here  and 
there,  but  they  are  always  chosen  to  serve  some  purpose  of  the 
author;  they  are  introduced  mostly  as  stylistic  embellishments. 
Tilemann's  collection,  on  the  other  hand,  appears  to  have  been  made 
entirely  for  its  own  sake,  and,  furthermore,  betrays  so  much  intimate 
knowledge  of  poetry  and  music  as  an  art  that  we  cannot  help  sup- 
posing that  its  author  was  either  an  exceptionally  highly  educated 
amateur  or  a  poet  himself,  probably  belonging  to  the  newly  arising 
school  of  mastersingers.  We  know  that  in  Maintz  there  existed 
one  of  the  first  of  these  schools,  which  showed,  according  to  a 
contemporary  (cf.  Germ.  XV  200),  a  decidedly  conservative 
spirit,  in  opposition  to  the  newly  invented  measures  and  melodies 
of  other  schools.  Is  it  not  possible  that  Tilemann,  besides  receiv- 
ing his  theological  training  in  Maintz,  may  also  have  acquired  the 
poetical  education  of  that  mastersinger  school  ?  A  close  exami- 
nation of  his  style  and  of  those  poetical  passages  which  doubtless 
belong  to  him,  will  perhaps  give  us  a  satisfactory  answer. 

It  cannot  be  denied  that  Tilemann's  style,  although  keeping 
within  the  typical  forms  of  such  chronicles,  is  remarkably  German 
in  its  character,  and  free  from  the  influence  of  Latin  style  which 
has  continued  to  corrupt  German  prose  down  to  our  own  time.  The 
tranquillity  of  epic  objectiveness  is  spread  over  the  chronicle  in 
general,  and  several  descriptions  of  persons  might  find  a  place  in  any 
great  epic  poem.  Relating  the  contest  which  the  city  of  Limburg  had 
with  the  Knight  Cune,  i.  e.  Konrad  von  Falkenstein,  the  protector  of 
Maintz  and  Treves,  he  describes  him  in  the  following  manner :  "  Item 
nu  saltu  wissen  phyzonomien  unde  gestalt  hern  Conen  vurgenant, 
want  ich  in  dicke  gesehen  unde  geprufet  han  in  sime  wesen  unde 
in  mancher  siner  manirunge.  He  was  ein  herlich  stark  man  von 
libe  unde  wol  gepersoniret  unde  gross  von  allem  gelune,  unde 
hatte  ein  gross  heupt  mit  eime  struben  widem  brunen  krulle,  ein 
breit  antlitze  mit  pussenden  backen,  ein  sharp  menlich  gesichte, 
einen  bescheiden  mont  mit  glefsen  etzlicher  masse  dicke  ;  die  nase 
was  breit,  mit  gerumeden  naselochern,  die  nase  was  ime  mitten 
nider  gedrucket;  mit  eime  grossen  kinne  unde  mit  einer  hohen 
stirne,  unde  hatte  auch  ein  gross  brost  unde  rodelfare  under  sinen 
augen,  unde  stont  uf  sinen  beinen  als  ein  lewe,  unde  hatte  gutliche 
geberde  gen  sinen  frunden,  unde  wanne  dass  he  zornig  was,  so 


8 

pusseden  unde  floderten  ime  sine  backen  unde  stonden  ime 
herlichen  unde  wislichen  unde  nit  obel." 

While  Tilemann  shows  in  passages  like  this  that  he  had  certain 
poetical  gifts,  he  does  not  betray  the  same  faculty  in  his  verses. 
The  latter  are,  with  one  exception,  translations  of  quotations  from 
the  Bible  and  ancient  writers,  and  appear  to  be  made  according  to 
the  prescription,  "  Reim'  dich  oder  ich  fress'  Dich."  Thus  he 
translates  a  sentence  of  Aristotle  :  "Amicus  est  consolativus  amico 
visione  et  sermone :  Ein  frunt  sal  sime  frunde  trostlich  sin  unde 
dun  dass  mit  rede  und  gesicht  shin."  Speaking  of  the  locusts 
which  appeared  in  Germany  in  1362  and  did  great  damage,  he 
quotes  the  46th  verse  of  the  LXXVII  psalm,  "  Et  dedit  erugini 
fructus  eorum  et  laborum  eorum  locustis,"  and  translates :  "  Di 
rupen  sollent  ire  fruchte  leben,  arbeit  der  lute  ist  den  Haun- 
schrecken  gegeben." 

Indeed,  such  verses  may  pass  for  the  poetical  pastime  of  an 
amateur  who  is  trying  his  skill  in  hours  of  leisure,  but  nobody  will 
find  in  them  the  traces  of  a  poetical  genius.  And  even  at  a  more 
important  occasion,  when  Tilemann  evidently  is  so  deeply  agitated 
that  he  asks  his  readers  to  pray  to  God  for  him,  and  his  local 
patriotism  takes  the  form  of  poetry,  his  verses  do  not  rise  above 
the  level  of  rhymed  prose.  The  independence  of  Limburg  had 
been  at  stake  after  the  death  of  the  princes  of  Limburg,  and  the 
Archbishop  of  Treves,  in  whose  diocese  the  city  was  situated, 
came  with  many  knights  and  soldiers  in  order  to  take  possession. 
Before  doing  this,  however,  he  called  the  city  council  together  and 
asked  them  what  rights  and  privileges  the  Archbishop  might, 
in  their  opinion,  claim.  But  instead  of  being  frightened,  the 
head  of  the  council,  the  burgomaster  Boppe,  gave  such  sharp 
and  legal  answers  that  the  Archbishop  was  astonished,  and 
refrained  from  touching  the  independence  of  Limburg.  Full  of 
joy  and  just  pride,  Tilemann  then  writes  the  following  lines  : 

"  Daran  gedenket,  it  jungen  unde  ir  alden 
dass  ir  mit  wisheit  moget  behalden 
uwer  lip,  gut  unde  ere 
dass  ist  uwern  kinden  gute  mere." 

It  would  certainly  be  a  charitable  injustice  towards  Tilemann 
were  we,  after  having  examined  the  poetry  which  he  claims  as  his 
own,  to  suspect  him  of  having  written  any  of  the  beautiful  songs 
occurring  in  the  latter  part  of  the  chronicle.  There  is  every  reason 
for  believing  that  he  is  not  the  composer  of  any  one  of  the  songs 


9 

which  he  tells  us  were  so  popular,  at  various  times,  in  Germany. 
Nor  do  passages  in  which  he  shows  his  knowledge  of  the  technical 
language  of  the  mastersingers  prove,  as  we  shall  see  later  when 
we  treat  of  the  metrical  peculiarities  of  these  poems,  that  he  must 
have  practised  the  art  of  poetry  to  any  further  extent  than  that 
which  has  been  indicated  above. 

Looking  over  the  whole  collection  of  poems  contained  in  the 
Chronicle  of  Limburg,  we  may  divide  it  into  three  different  classes  : 

(1)  Poetry  showing  the  influence  of  the  declining  Minnepoesie  ; 

(2)  Religious  poetry  ;  (3)  Popular  songs. 

There  is  only  one  poem  in  the  chronicle  which  strictly  belongs  to 
.the  first  class,  and  which  bears  the  name  of  its  author,  Herr  Rein- 
hard  von  Westerburg. 

This  knight  frequently  appears  in  historical  documents  of  that 
time,  not  only  figuring  in  many  of  those  fights  in  which  the  lesser 
knights  constantly  indulged,  but  also  as  a  favored  follower  of 
Emperor  Ludwig  of  Bavaria.  He  also  must  have  enjoyed  great 
fame  as  a  poet,  besides  being  a  very  jovial,  witty  and  wild  fellow. 
We  possess  a  beautiful  characterization  of  him  by  one  of  his  con- 
temporaries, contained  in  a  poem  of  a  MS  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
which  was  formerly  in  the  possession  of  W.  Grimm,  and  is  now 
to  be  found  in  the  Royal  Library  of  Berlin  (cf.  Zeitschrift  f.  d.  A. 
XIII  366  ff.).  The  author  of  this  poem  represents  himself  as 
walking  in  the  woods,  where  he  finds  an  elderly  but  still  handsome 
lady.  As  she  does  not  answer  his  greeting,  he  takes  her  by  the  hand, 
whereupon  she  tells  him  that  thirty  years  ago  she  had  founded  a 
school  for  the  purpose  of  teaching  young  knights  the  rules  of 
honor  and  drawing  them  from  the  pool  of  disgrace.  Tired  of  the 
great  mass  of  knights,  she  had  selected  from  their  numbers  twelve 
who  had  now  developed  into  the  bloom  of  knighthood  and  were 
ready  to  be  dismissed,  and  she  herself  needed  rest.  Here  the  poet 
interrupts  her,  and  proposes  that  she  should  continue  her  school. 
She  asks  him  to  name  some  knights  whom  she  might  take.  This 
he  does,  but  when  mentioning  Reinhard  von  Westerburg  he 
cautiously  adds,  "  He  is  a  little  wild  and  needs  your  training." 

The  story  which  Tilemann  relates  is  entirely  in  accordance  with 
this,  and  furnishes  a  delightful  illustration  of  Reinhard's  wildness. 
He  says  :  "  Item  da  man  schreip  dusent  druhundert  unde  siben 
unde  vierzig  jar,  da  worden  di  von  Cobelenze  jemerlichen  irslagen 
unde  nider  geworfen  bi  Grensauwe  unde  bliben  ir  doit  hundert 
unde  zwene  unde  sibenzig  man  unde  worden  ir  auch  darzu  vil 


10 

gefangen  unde  dass  det  Reinhart,  herre  zu  Westerburg.  Unde 
der  selbe  Reinhart  was  gar  ein  kluger  ritter  von  libe,  von  sinne 
unde  von  gestalt,  unde  reit  keiser  Ludewigen  ser  nach  unde  sang 
unde  machte  he  dit  lit : 

4  Ob  ich  (lurch  si  den  hals  zubreche, 
wer  reche  mir  den  schaiden  dan  ? 
so  enhette  ich  nimans  der  mich  reche  ; 
ich  bin  ein  ungefrunter  man. 

Darumb  so  muss  ich  selber  warten, 
\vi  ez  mir  gelegen  si. 
Ich  enhan  nit  trostes  von  der  zarten, 
si  ist  irs  gemudes  fri. 
Wei  si  min  nit,  di  werde  reine, 
so  muss  ich  wol  orlaup  han. 
Uf  ir  genade  achte  ich  kleine, 
sich,  Aa.z  lasse  ich  si  vurstan.' 

Da  der  vurgenant  keiser  Ludewig  daz  lit  gehorte,  darumb  so 
strafte  he  den  herren  von  Westerburg  unde  saide,  he  wolde  ez  der 
frouwen  gebessert  haben.  Da  nam  der  herre  von  Westerburg 
eine  kurze  zit  unde  saide,  he  wolde  den  frauwen  hesseren  unde 
sang  daz  lit : 

'  In  jammers  noden  ich  gar  vurdreven  bin 
dutch  ein  wif  so  minnecliche,'  etc. 

Da  sprach  Keiser  Ludewig :  '  Westerburg,  du  hast  uns  nu  wol 
gebessert.' " 

It  is  evident  that  Reinhard's  poem  belongs  to  that  healthy  oppo- 
sition which  seems  to  have  begun  even  in  the  time  of  Walther  v. 
d.  Vogelweide,  and  which  is  generally  called  the  decline  of  Min- 
nepoesie.  The  conditions  upon  which  the  latter  was  based  were 
too  unnatural,  the  circles  in  which  it  moved  too  narrow,  to  assure 
it  a  longer  life.  For  that  sickly  romantic  admiration  until  recently 
prevailing  in  Germany  and  elsewhere,  which  saw  in  those  knights 
the  true  representatives  of  die  gute,  alte  Zeit,  and  adored  them  as 
the  incarnation  of  Zucht  und  Ehrbarkeit,  has  fortunately  passed 
away.  While  we  fully  acknowledge  the  beauties  of  many  of  their 
productions,  we  cannot  help  seeing  in  their  constant  groaning, 
whining  and  lamenting  something  extremely  unknightly,  especially 
as  it  was  meant  for  married  women,  and  had  but  one  aim  in  view, 
the  immorality  of  which  cannot  be  denied,  even  if  we  call  it,  in 
Walther's  elegant  language,  "  halsen  triuten  bigelegen."  The 
opposition,  however,  was  not  caused  by  such  ethical  considerations. 
Very  soon  the  more  sensible  minds  began  to  see  the  comical 


II 

element  in  the  relation  between  knight  and  iady ;  above  all,  they 
began  to  feel  that  the  fundamental  idea  upon  which  the  whole 
nature  of  Minnepoesie  rested  was  as  unnatural  as  it  was  wrong. 
The  idea  that  man  is  the  servant  of  woman  had  not  grown  upon 
German  soil,  and  in  spite  of  all  apparent  flatteries,  contained  a  very 
low  conception  of  the  woman,  if  we  remember  the  real  aim  of  this 
servitude. 

It  is  very  interesting  to  follow  the  development  of  the  oppo- 
sition, a  history  of  which  we  do  not  yet  possess.  Very  signifi- 
cantly, it  is  inaugurated  by  that  poet  in  whom  the  sensual  element 
of  Minnepoesie  reached  its  climax,  and  who  afterwards  became 
for  this  reason  the  hero  of  a  popular  legend,  by  Tannhauser.  He 
ridicules  Minnepoesie  by  enumerating  impossible  things  which  the 
lady  in  whose  "  service "  he  is,  required  of  him.  And  as  he 
already  praises  the  simple  peasant  girl  whose  love  is  won  more 
easily  than  that  of  a  lady  in  the  higher  circles,  Neidhard  von 
Reuenthal  makes  the  villages  near  Vienna  the  scene  of  his  love 
adventures,  and  while  preserving  the  air  of  a  minnesinger,  brings 
about  highly  ludicrous  situations.  Their  followers,  Steinmar, 
Gottfried  von  Neifen  and  others  go  still  further  by  scorning  the 
unnatural  feeling  itself.  Steinmar  even  compares  the  throbbing  of 
his  love-sick  heart  to  the  jumping  of  a  pig  in  a  bag  (Als  ein  swin 
in  einem  sacke  vert  min  herze  hin  und  dar).  But  I  have  searched 
in  vain  in  the  minnesingers  of  that  period  to  find  a  single  example 
in  which  the  poet  addressed  his  ridicule  to  the  lady  herself  as 
Reinhard  von  Westerburg  does  here.  The  ties  of  etiquette  and 
tradition  requiring  the  highest  respect  for  the  lady,  were  too  strong 
yet,  even  at  this  late  period,  and  it  was  because  Tilemann  felt  them 
to  be  broken  that  he  mentioned  Reinhard's  poem.  This  offence 
against  tradition,  which  really  meant  the  dissolution  of  the  whole 
fabric  on  Minnepoetry,  was  felt  still  more  keenly  by  the  represen- 
tative of  conservatism,  whose  glory  was  based  upon  the  splendor 
of  knighthood  by  the  emperor.  For  this  reason  he  reprimands 
Reinhard,  asking  him  to  turn  from  his  former  course ;  and  for  this 
reason  Reinhard  assumes  the  old,  worn-out,  love-sick  attitude  of  a 
minnesinger,  behind  which  we  can  after  all  not  help  seeing  the 
wild  rogue. 

Of  the  same  importance  which  Reinhard's  poem  has  for  the 
history  of  Minnepoetry  are  Tilemann's  accounts  of  the  develop- 
ment of  religious  poetry.  The  same  clear,  observing  mind  which, 
either  by  instinctive  interest  or  from  scientific  motives,  noted  a 


12 

most  valuable  turn  in  secular  poetic  art,  has  preserved  us  also  an 
interesting  source  of  knowledge  in  the  field  of  sacred  hymnology. 
Through  Hoffmann  von  Fallersleben's  diligent  researches  we 
know  that  the  German  church  hymn  is  not  entirely  a  new  creation 
of  Luther's.1  Long  before  him  the  German  spirit  had  revolted 
against  the  stupid  inactivity  with  which  Roman  priests  and  the 
Roman  liturgy  had  oppressed  it.  We  can  trace  how  the  people, 
beginning  with  a  few  senseless  vowels  added  to  the  strange  Kyrie 
eleison,  which  they  were  allowed  to  sing,  gradually  created  a 
German  church  hymn,  much  to  the  dislike  of  the  Roman  clergy. 
We  owe  it  to  the  hate  and  persecutions  of  the  latter  that  most  of 
these  songs  were  lost.  The  few  which  we  still  possess  of  the 
twelfth,  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  especially  those 
addressed  to  the  Virgin  Mary,  are  filled  with  the  deepest  and  most 
sublime  religious  feeling,  and  some  songs  which  the  people  sang 
at  Easter  and  Pentecost,  such  as  "  Christ  ist  erstanden "  and 
"  Komm,  heilger  Geist,"  are  still  jewels  of  our  present  hymnals. 
Religious  sects  especially,  as  e.  g.  the  mystics,  which  developed 
a  highly  spiritual  life,  cultivated  religious  poetry,  and  thus  we  find 
that  the  specimens  preserved  by  Tilemann  also  belong  to  one  of 
the  religious  movements  of  the  fourteenth  century.  For,  excepting 
the  century  of  the  Reformation,  no  other  period  was  so  deeply 
agitated  by  religion  as  the  fourteenth  century ;  and  in  many 
respects  it  may  be  compared  to  our  present  time.  Not  only  do 
we  find  there  the  first  beginning  of  great  socialistic  movements  in 
Germany,  but  we  also  meet  with  the  mania  of  our  own  time  as 
well,  the 'Antisemitentum,' the  '  Judenhetze,'  and  even  with  the 
premonition  of  our  Salvation  Army,  the  Flagellants,  among  whom 
originated  the  songs  of  which  we  are  about  to  treat. 

Owing  to  the  few  and,  for  the  most  part,  very  imperfect  and 
prejudiced  sources  of  information  afforded  by  contemporary 
writers,  our  knowledge  of  the  whole  movement  is  extremely 
limited.  Although  it  has  been  proved  by  Haeser  ("  Lehrbuch  der 
Gesch.  der  Medicin")  and  Hecker  ("Die  grossen  Volkskrank- 
heiten  des  Mittelalters  ")  that  this  movement  was  caused  by  the 
so-called  Black  Death,  mainly  a  disease  of  the  lungs,  which  had 
been  imported  from  Asia,  and  which  swept  through  Europe  from 
the  Black  Sea  to  Spain,  devouring  millions  of  people,  we  do  not 
know  its  exact  connection  with  the  persecution  of  the  Jews  and 

1  Hoffmann  von  Fallersleberf,  Geschichte  des  deutschen  Kirchenliedes  bis 
auf  Luthers  Zeit. 


13 

the  geographical  route  of  the  Flagellants.  Recent  investigation, 
however,  has  shown  that  the  order  of  events  which  is  usually 
accepted,  viz.,  Black  Death — Persecution  of  the  Jews — Flagellants, 
has  to  be  changed,  for  Germany  at  least,  into  Persecution  of  the 
Jews — Flagellants — Black  Death.1  The  news  of  the  approaching 
plague  was  a  welcome  pretext  for  getting  rid  of  the  Jews,  who,  as 
Roscher  ("Ansichten  der  Volkswirtschaft ")  has  proved,  were  hated 
as  the  possessors  of  money  and  as  public  extortioners.  Malice, 
stupidity  and  religious  fanaticism  manufactured  the  story  that 
they  had  poisoned  the  wells,  and  in  less  than  one  year  all  the  Jews 
scattered  from  Cologne  to  Austria  were  killed.  The  words  '  Juden- 
mord,'  '  Judenbrand,'  'Judenschlacht '  are  technical  terms  in  the 
chronicles,  which  find  it  quite  natural  that  in  Strassburg  2000  Jews 
were  burned  at  one  time  ad  maiorem  Dei  gloriam.  One  chroni- 
cler remarks  (Diessenhofen)  crederem  finem  Hebreorum  advenisse, 
while  another  writer  coolly  concludes  requiescant  in  inferno 
(Chronicum  Lampetrinum).  We  have  sufficient  proof  that  the 
Flagellants,  who  appear  simultaneously  with  these  persecutions, 
frequently  instigated  them  in  the  places  at  which  they  arrived  with 
their  processions. 

Two  great  periods  are  to  be  distinguished  in  the  history  of  this 
peculiar  fanatical  movement.  Driven  by  an  agonizing  fear  of  the 
approaching  death,  which  no  human  art  or  power  could  stay, 
superstitious  people,  seeing  the  wrath  and  judgment  of  God  in  the 
pest,  organized  in  different  parts  of  Germany  a  religious  order 
composed  of  those  who  thought  to  be  able  to  reconcile  the  wrath 
of  God  by  punishing  and  torturing  themselves.  The  impression 
which  they  created  wherever  they  appeared  was  overpowering  and 
heartrending,  for  a  genuine  religious  enthusiasm  seemed  to  break 
forth  like  a  revelation  from  mysterious  depths.  As  Tilemann 
reports,  knights,  citizens  and  peasants  joined  the  new  order. 
Closener,  the  chronicler  of  Strassburg,  writes :  "  Whenever  the 
Flagellants  scourged  themselves,  then  the  greatest  crowds  assem- 
bled and  the  greatest  weeping  was  to  be  witnessed,  for  they 
believed  everything  to  be  true."  And  another  writer,  Hervord, 
says  :  Cor  lapideum  esset  quod  talia  sine  lacrimis  posset  accipere. 
It  was  in  this  first  time,  when  they  were  welcomed  everywhere 
and  still  filled  with  the  spirit  of  repentance,  that  our  hymns  were 
composed. 

Soon,  however,  we  notice  a  great  change  in  public  opinion  as 

1  R.  Hoeniger,  Der  schwarze  Tod  in  Deutschland. 


well  as  among  the  Flagellants  themselves.  Notwithstanding  all 
the  praying,  singing  and  scourging,  the  plague  appeared  and 
swept  away  millions  and  millions  of  people.  We  must  not  be 
surprised  that  the  belief  of  the  public  was  shaken,  that  it  began  to 
look  upon  the  whole  spectacle  as  a  pious  fraud.  The  Flagellants 
themselves  seem  to  have  felt  their  failing,  and  in  order  to  preserve 
themselves  they  directed  their  agitation  against  the  clergy,  for  they 
were  sure  this  would  not  fail  to  make  them  popular.  For  a  time 
it  seems  as  if  they  had  successfully  calculated  upon  the  public 
hatred  of  the  depraved  clergy.  The  movement  assumes  immense 
proportions ;  it  spreads  over  all  Germany ;  even  women  and 
children  become  Flagellants.  Again  they  are  seen  to  change  their 
policy.  Having  filled  their  ranks  with  the  outcasts  of  society, 
they  begin  to  show  socialistic  and  anarchical  tendencies.  Long 
before  they  had  ceased  to  be  an  element  of  great  ethical  strength 
and  influence.  While  in  the  earlier  period  their  members  had  not 
dared  to  speak  to  women,  a  chronicler  now  writes :  transiverunt 
eciam  in  similibus  turmis  mulieres  et  virgines  que,  sicut  audivi, 
nonnuncquam  plenis,  salva  reverencia,  gremiis  redierunt,  thus 
also  foreshadowing  the  frequent  elopements  of  our  Salvation  Army. 
They  caused  a  second  general  persecution  of  the  Jews;  they 
entered  and  pillaged  villages  and  cities,  and  finally  threatened  a 
complete  overthrow  of  society.  A  final  and  radical  change  in 
public  opinion  now  follows.  Papal  and  imperial  power  unite  for 
their  destruction.  In  the  same  dry  words  with  which  the  chroni- 
clers spoke  of  the  burning  of  the  Jews  they  now  relate  the  general 
slaughter  of  the  Flagellants. 

It  is  another  proof  of  the  impartiality  of  Tilemann  that,  although 
he  shared  the  popular  condemnation  of  the  Flagellants,  he  has 
nevertheless  written  an  accurate  account  of  their  first  appearance. 

We  fortunately  possess  another  description  of  the  movement, 
entirely  independent  from  Tilemann's,  which  not  only  verifies  the 
statements  of  the  latter,  but  will  also  assist  us  in  obtaining  a  clear 
picture  of  all  the  ceremonies  and  processions  accompanied  by  the 
singing  of  hymns.  It  was  written  by  Fritsche  (Friedrich)  Closener, 
a  contemporary  of  Tilemann  living  in  Strassburg,  and  likewise  an 
ecclesiastic  and  chronicler  of  his  native  city.1  The  Flagellants 
generally  marched  in  troops  consisting  of  one  to  three  hundred 
members,  who  had  pledged  themselves,  before  entering  the  brother- 

1  Cf.  Lorenz,  Geschichtsquellen,  p.  33 ;  K.  Hegel,  Die  Chroniken  der 
deutschen  Stadte,  Vol.  8,  p.  3  (Einleitung). 


15 

hood,  to  observe  strictly  its  regulations  during  the  thirty  to  thirty- 
four  days  of  the  procession.  As  soon  as  they  approached  a  city 
or  a  village  they  formed  a  line,  following  two  by  two  the  bearers 
of  precious  silk  and  velvet  flags.  They  were  clad  in  very  plain 
clothes;  upon  their  cloaks  and  hats  red  crosses  were  fastened. 
And  while  the  church  bells  were  rung  to  greet  them,  they  marched 
to  the  church  singing,  according  to  Tilemann's  version,  the  follow- 
ing song : 

1st  disc  bedefart  so  here 

Crist  fur  selber  zu  Jherusalem 

und  furte  ein  cruze  in  siner  hant. 

Nu  helf  uns  der  heilant ! 

As  Tilemann  relates,  the  hymn  had  been  composed  for  this 
special  purpose,  and  was  used  in  later  times  during  the  proces- 
sions, "  wanne  mari  di  heiligen  treit."  It  has  been  preserved  by 
Closener1  in  a  more  perfect  form,  and  it  is  interesting  to  observe 
in  this  song,  as  well  as  in  the  others  recorded  by  Closener,  the 
constant  changes  which  every  genuine  folksong  has  to  undergo. 

Nu  ist  die  bettevart  so  her 
Crist  reit  selber  gen  Jherusalem  ; 
er  fiirt  ein  krtitze  an  siner  hant. 
nu  helf  uns  der  heilant ! 

Nu  ist  die  bettevart  so  guot. 
hilf  uns,  herre,  durch  din  heiliges  bluot, 
daz  du  an  dem  kriitze  vergossen  hast, 
und  uns  in  dem  ellende  gelossen  hast. 

Nti  ist  die  strfisze  also  breit 

die  uns  zu  unsere  lieben  frowen  treit 

in  unsere  lieben  frowen  lant. 

nu  helfe  uns  der  heilant ! 

Wir  sullent  die  busze  an  uns  nemen, 
daz  wir  gote  deste  bas  gezemen 
aldort  in  sines  vatters  rich, 
des  bitten  wir  dich  sunder  alle  gelich. 

so  bitten  wir  den  vil  heiligen  Crist 

der  alle  der  welte  gewaltig  ist. 

As  soon  as  they  had  entered  the  church  they  kneeled  down  and 
sang: 

Jhesus  wart  gelabet  mit  gallen 

des  sollen  wir  an  sin  cruze  vallen.     (Tilemann.) 

1  Cf.  K.  Hegel,  Chroniken,  VIII  105  ;  L.  Uhland,  Volksliedej,  II  824  ;  W. 
Wackernagel,  Lesebuch,  I  1246. 


i6 

Then  they  threw  themselves  on  the  ground,  stretching  out  their 
arms  in  the  form  of  a  cross.  In  this  position  they  remained  until 
their  precentor  sang  : 

Nu  hebent  uf  die  iiwern  hende 

daz  got  dis  grosze  sterben  wende.     (Closener.) 

After  the  first  part  of  their  exercises  was  thus  ended,  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  city  or  village  invited  them  home  and  "  biittentz  in 
wol "  (fed  them).  The  principal  performance,  the  scourging, 
generally  took  place  twice  a  day  either  in  a  churchyard  or  in  some 
large  open  place.  Thither  they  marched  in  the  same  order  in 
which  they  had  entered  the  church,  formed  a  circle,  took  off  their 
shoes  and  uncovered  the  upper  part  of  their  bodies.  Hereupon 
they  lay  down  on  the  ground,  indicating  by  their  positions  the 
different  sins  which  they  had  committed.  The  adulterer,  e.  g. 
placed  himself  on  his  face,  the  murderer  on  his  back,  the  perjurer 
held  up  three  fingers,  etc.  One  of  the  leaders,  having  stepped 
over  one  of  the  brothers  as  he  lay  on  the  ground,  touched  him 
with  his  whip  and  said :' 

Stant  uf  durch  der  reinen  martel  ere, 
Und  hilt  dich  vor  der  siinden  mere. 

Thus  he  went  through  the  whole  circle,  and  whoever  had  been 
touched  followed  him  in  the  same  ceremony  until  all  had  risen. 
Now  another  circle  was  formed  into  which  the  precentors  stepped, 
intoning  the  second  long  hymn,  while  the  brothers  two  by  two 
went  around  the  circle  scourging  themselves  until  the  blood  flowed. 
In  Tilemann's  version  the  song  begins  thus : 

Tredet  herzu,  wer  bussen  welle, 
so  flihen  wir  di  heissen  helle. 
Lucifer  1st  bose  geselle, 
wen  he  hat, 
mit  beche  er  in  labet. 

This  was  evidently  the  most  important  hymn  in  these  bloody 
exercises.  In  a  more  perfect,  but  still  very  corrupt  form,  we  have 
it  preserved  not  only  by  Closener,  but  also  in  a  Low  German 
version.2  Almost  the  same  thoughts  and  many  similar  expressions 

1  Cf.  Closener,  p.  107  ff. 

2Cf.  Ph.  "V^ackernagel,  Das  deutsche  Kirchenlied,  II  336. 


'7 

occur  in  a  song  of  the  French  Flagellants,1  which  points  to  the 
international  character  of  the  movement  as  well  as  to  a  common 
source  of  the  various  forms  of  this  hymn.  After  it  had  been  sung 
the  Flagellants  again  kneeled  down  and  sang  : 

Jhesus  wart  gelabet  mit  gallen, 

Des  sollen  wir  an  ein  cruze  fallen.     (Tilemann.) 

Again  they  threw  themselves  on  the  ground,  remaining  there  for 
a  while  until  the  precentors  began : 

Nu  hebent  uf  die  uwern  hende, 

das  got  dis  grosze  sterben  wende. 

Nu  hebent  uf  die  uwern  arme, 

das  sich  got  uber  uns  erbarme. 

Jhesus,  durch  diner  namen  drie, 

Du  mach  uns,  herre,  vor  sttnden  frie  ! 

Jhesus,  durch  dine  wunden  rot 

Behiit  uns  vor  dem  gehen  tot.     (Closener.) 


1  Or,  avant,  entre  nous  tuit  frere 
Batons  noz  charvingues  bien  fort, 
En  remembrant  la  grant  misere 
De  Dieu  et  sa  piteuse  mort, 
Qui  fut  pris  de  la  gent  amere 
Et  vendus  et  train  a  tort : 
Et  battu  sa  char  vierge  et  clere  ; 
Ou  nom  de  ce,  batons  plus  fort. 

Loons  Dieu  et  batons  noz  pis, 
Et  en  la  doulce  remembrance 
De  ce  que  tu  feus  abeuvrez 
Avec  le  crueux  cop  de  la  lance, 
D'aisil  o  fiel  fut  destrampez. 
Alons  a  genoux  par  penance  ; 
Loons  Dieu,  vos  bras  estandez ; 
Et  en  1'amour  de  sa  souffrance 
Cheons  jus  en  croix  a  tous  lez. 

Batons  noz  pis,  batons  no  face. 
Tendons  noz  bras,  de  grant  vouloir 
Dieux  qui  nous  a  fait,  nous  preface 
Et  nous  doint  de  cieux  le  manoir. 
Et  gart  tous  ceulx  qu'en  ceste  place 
En  pitie  nous  viennent  veoir 
Jhesus  ainsi  comme  devant. 
-(Leroux  de  Lincy,  Recueil  de  Chants  histor.  franc.  I  233.) 


i8 

Then  they  stretched  out  their  arms  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  and 
beating  their  breasts,  sang  : 

Nu  slaget  uch  sere 

durch  Cristes  ere. 

Dorch  Got  so  lasset  di  hoffart  faren, 

so  wel  sich  Got  ober  uns  irbarmen. 

This  last  song,  while  not  recorded  by  Closener,  is  given  after 
Tilemann.  It  was  doubtless  used  wherever  the  Flagellants  appeared, 
since  it  is  frequently  mentioned  by  contemporary  and  later  writers. 
Its  Dutch  version  runs  as  follows  : 

Nu  slaet  u  seer 

door  Christus  eer 

door  God  so  laet  die  sonden  meer. 

An  Austrian  chronicle  (1025-1282),  which  relates  of  the  earliest 
Flagellants  in  1260,  mentions  it  in  the  following  sentence  :  Mulieres 
quoque  in  domibus  simili  modo  faciendo,  et  ilium  cantum  psallebant : 

Ir  slaht  iuch  sSre 

in  cristes  ere. 

durch  got  so  lat  die  siinde  mere. 

Hence  it  is  highly  probable  that  not  only  parts  of  songs,  but 
whole  hymns,  and  perhaps  even  many  ceremonies,  had  been  pre- 
served by  tradition  for  nearly  a  century.  With  the  singing  of  the 
hymn  just  quoted  the  first  part  of  these  dramatic  exercises  closed. 
A  second  and  third  procession  and  scourging  now  followed,  during 
which  the  continuation  of  "  Tredet  herzu,  wer  bussen  welle  "  was 
sung.1  The  reading  of  a  long  letter  which,  as  they  pretended,  had 

1  Maria  stuont  in  grossen  noten 
Do  siu  ir  liebes  kint  sach  toeten, 
Ein  swerte  ir  durch  die  sele  sneit.    (Cf.  Stabat  mater.) 
Daz  lo  dir,  sunder,  wesen  leit. 
Des  hilf  uns  lieber  herre  got, 
des  biten  wir  dich  durch  dinen  tot. 

Jhesus  riefe  in  hiemelriche 
sinen  engeln  alien  geliche, 
er  sprach  zuo  in  vil  senedeclichen : 
die  cristenheit  wil  mir  entwichen, 
des  wil  ich  Ian  die  welt  zergan, 
des  wissent  sicher,  one  wan. 

dovor  behiit  uns,  herre  got, 

des  bitten  wir  dich  durch  dinen  tot. 


19 

been  sent  from  heaven  by  Christ,  usually  closed  the    services. 

Maria  bat  irn  sun  den  siissen  : 
liebes  kint,  lo  sii  dir  biissen 
so  wil  ich  schicken,  daz  sii  miissen 
beseren  sich.     des  bit  ich  dich, 
vil  liebes  kint,  des  gewer  du  mich. 

des  bitten  wir  sunder  ouch  alle  gelich 
Welich  frowe  oder  man  ire  e  nuo  brechen 
daz  wil  got  selber  an  si  rechen  : 
swebel,  bech  und  ouch  die  gallen 
gusset  der  tiifel  in  sie  alle. 
Funvar  sie  sint  des  duvels  bot. 

dovor  behiit  uns,  herre  got, 

des  bitten  wir  dich  durch  dinen  tot. 
Ir  mordere,  ir  strosroubere, 
uch  ist  die  rede  enteil  zuo  swere, 
ir  wellent  uch  uber  nieman  erbarn, 
des  mussent  ir  in  die  helle  varn. 

dovor  behiit  uns,  herre  got, 

des  bitten  wir  dich  durch  dinen  tot. 
O  we,  ir  armen  wuocherere, 
dem  lieben  got  sint  ir  unmere. 
du  lihest  ein  marg  al  umbe  pfunt, 
daz  ziihet  dich  in  der  helle  grunt, 
des  bistu  iemer  me  verlorn, 
derzuo  so  bringet  dich  gottes  zorn 

dovor  behtit  uns,  etc. 

Die  erde  erbidemet,  sich  kliibent  die  steine 
ir  herten  hertzen,  ir  sullent  weinen, 
weinent  tottgen — mit  den  ougen. 
schlahent  uch  sere — durch  Cristes  ere. 
durch  (in)  vergiessen  wir  unser  bluot, 
daz  si  uns  fur  die  siinde  guot. 

daz  hilf  uns  lieber  herre  got,  etc. 
Der  den  fritag  nut  envastet 
und  den  siintag  nut  enrastet, 
zwar  der  miisse  in  der  helle  pin 
eweklich  verloren  sin. 

dovor  behiit  uns,  etc. 
Die  e,  die  ist  ein  reines  leben, 
die  hat  got  selber  uns  gegeben. 
ich  rat  frowen  und  ir  mannen, 
daz  ir  die  hochfart  lasset  dannen. 
durch  got  so  laut  die  hochfart  varn, 
so  wil  sich  got  uber  uns  erbarn. 

des  hilf  uns,  etc. 


20 

Tilemann,  finally,  has  preserved  us  the  first  strophes  of  two  hymns 
which  they  intoned  on  leaving  the  cities  and  villages  : 

O  herre  vader  Jhesu  Christ, 

want  du  ein  herre  alleine  bist, 

der  uns  die  sunde  mach  vurgeben, 

un  gefriste  uns,  herre,  uf  besser  leben, 

das  wir  beweinen  dinen  dot ! 

Wir  klagen  dir,  herre  alle  unse  n6t,  etc. 

Or: 

Ez  ging  sich  unse  frauwe,  kyrieleison, 
des  morgens  in  dem  dauwe,  alleluia. 
Gelobet  si  Maria ! 

Da  begente  ir  ein  junge,  kyrieleison, 
sin  bart  war  ime  entsprungen,  alleluia. 
Gelobet  si  Maria !  etc. 

It  was  necessary  to  give  a  full  description  of  the  ceremonies  and 
songs  of  the  Flagellants,  in  order  to  illustrate  the  manner  in  which 
Tilemann  recorded  poetry  in  his  chronicle.  Comparing  his  account 
with  that  of  Closener  and  other  sources,  it  will  be  observed  that, 
although  Closener  has  a  more  complete  text,  Tilemann  has  noted 
several  songs  of  essential  importance  for  the  understanding  of  the 
Flagellant  movement,  which  do  not  occur  in  Closener.  The 
reason  why  Tilemann  usually  does  not  report  more  than  one 
strophe  of  the  various  hymns  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  they 
are  of  interest  to  him  only  as  newly  arisen  forms  of  metrical  and 
musical  production.  Several  times  he  takes  occasion  to  empha- 
size that  the  hymns  or  "  leisen  "  (kyrieleison),  as  he  calls  them, 
had  been  composed  at  this  time  (der  leise  ward  da  gemachet)  or 
belonged  exclusively  to  the  Flagellants  (ire  leisen).  Finally,  he 
says :  "  item  du  salt  wissen,  daz  disc  vurgeschreben  leisen  alle 
worden  gemachet  unde  gedicht  in  der  geiselnfart,  unde  enwas  der 
leisen  keine  vur  gehort."  Although  Tilemann  is  mistaken  here  in 
regard  to  the  verses  "  Nu  slaget  uch  sere,"  which  were  known 
as  early  as  1260,  his  remark  characterizes  the  manner  in  which  he 
observed  newly  arising  poetical  phenomena.  His  treatment  of 
these  religious  hymns  will,  of  course,  help  to  throw  light  on  his 
account  of  the  remaining  popular  poetry,  as  we  shall  find  later. 
An  investigation  as  to  the  common  source  of  all  the  Flagellant 
poetry  is  not  undertaken  in  this  paper.  It  is  highly  probable, 
however,  that  it  is  to  be  found  in  Italy,  where  we  meet  with  the 
earliest  indications  of  the  Flagellant  movement  in  1 260  ;  and  that, 


21 

following  the  geographical  route  of  the  order,  it  became  by  trans- 
lation and  tradition  the  basis  of  the  Flagellant  poetry  in  the  various 

countries.1 

JULIUS  GOEBEL. 

!A  proof  for  the  latter  supposition  may  be  found  in  a  passage  from  a  chronicle 
quoted  by  Hoffmann,  Gesch.  des  d.  Kirchenlieds,  p.  132  (Chronicon  Pulkavae, 
Monum.  hist.  Boem.  T.  Ill,  p.  232) :  Eodem  anno  flagellatorum  quaedam  secta 
suboritur,  qui  velantes  capita  more  claustralium  ad  cingulum  denudati  flagellis 
in  estremitatibus  nodos  habentibus,  fortissime  se  caedebant,  quorum  etiam 
quidam  processiones,  stationes,  venias  et  genuflexiones  fecerunt  mirabiles, 
secundum  distinctiones  linguarum  can/antes. 


[Reprinted  from  the  AMERICAN  JOURNAL  OF  PHILOLOGY,  Vol.  VIII,  No.  4.] 

V— POETRY  IN  THE  LIMBURGER  CHRONIK. 

II. 

The  last  group  of  songs  preserved  by  Tilemann  seems  to  have 
been  the  most  important  in  the  collector's  own  eyes.  It  is  not 
only  more  extensive  numerically,  but.  it  is  evident  that  he  noted 
these  songs  with  particular  care  and  pleasure,  in  several  cases  not 
withholding  his  own  criticism  :  ein  gut  lit,  he  says  (37,  10),  ein  gut 
lit  von  wise  unde  von  worten  (37,  21).  There  are  about  fifteen 
shorter  songs  or  fragments  of  such,  mostly  recorded  in  the  first 
part  of  the  Chronicle  with  the  events  from  1350  to  1380,  which 
seems  to  indicate  that  Tilemann  himself  had  witnessed  their  popu- 
larity during  his  younger  days.  He  has,  therefore,  either  noted 
them  as  they  arose,  or,  in  case  he  wrote  the  Chronicle  during  the 
latter  part  of  his  life,  has  in  recording  them  given  pleasant  reminis- 
cences of  his  youth.  Their  prevailing  theme  is  that  inexhaustible 
theme  of  all  popular  poetry,  love,  with  but  two  exceptions,  which 
are  didactic  in  character.  The  longing  for  the  beloved  one,  the 
pain  and  sorrow  of  parting,  and  the  promise  of  faithfulness  resound 
here  in  such  beautiful  strains  that  we  may  well  ask,  "  How  is  this 
possible  in  an  age  which  marks  the  decline  of  German  poetry, 
and  which  is  stirred  by  movements  like  that  of  the  Flagellants  ?  " 
In  vain  shall  we  look  for  a  connection  with  the  last  representatives 
of  Minnepoetry,  whose  general  character  we  have  already  described. 
Neither  will  a  comparison  of  the  Meistersinger  poetry,  with  its 
artificial  metres  and  its  didactic  and  allegoric  contents,  give  us  a 
satisfactory  answer.1  There  seems  to  be  no  doubt  that  we  must 
look  for  another  source  for  our  songs  than  those  which  are  histori- 
cally warranted  in  German  poetry  of  that  time. 

We  should  certainly  commit  an  anachronism  were  we  to  treat 
our  chronicler  like  a  literary  critic  of  the  present  century,  equipped 
with  all  the  methods  of  historiography.  Considering,  however, 
Tilemann's  attitude  toward  poetical  phenomena,  which  we  attempted 
to  characterize  in  our  first  essay,  it  is  perhaps  justifiable  to  con- 
clude that  he  himself  indicates  the  source  of  that  kind  of  poetry 

1  Cf.  J.  Grimm,  Ueber  den  altdeutschen  Meistergesang. 


24 

of  which  he  has  given  us  a  number  of  specimens.  Certain  docu- 
ments, like  the  famous  passage  in  Gottfried's  Tristan,  give  evidence 
of  the  fact  that  literary  criticism  had  developed  to  great  perfection 
in  many  mediaeval  circles.  And  we  can  fortunately  conceive  of  a 
man  of  fine  literary  taste  in  those  times  without  questioning  him 
as  to  his  system  of  philosophical  aesthetics.  We  may,  therefore, 
at  least  ask  whether  it  is  not  strange  that  Tilemann  does  not  men- 
tion one  of  the  popular  songs  until  he  has  given  us  the  remarkable 
account  of  Reinhard  von  Westerburg  and  has  characterized  the 
poetry  of  the  Flagellants  ?  It  would  rather  be  peculiar  if  such  songs 
had  not  been  sung  until  the  year  1350.  But  it  is  quite  natural, 
and  entirely  within  our  chronicler's  character  and  the  limited, 
undeveloped  means  of  prose  expression,  that  he  thus  should  have 
directed  the  attention  of  his  readers  to  that  kind  of  poetry  which 
he  himself  esteemed  so  highly. 

However,  even  if  we  do  not  consider  Tilemann's  Chronicle  one  of 
the  first  naive  attempts  at  literary  criticism  or  at  a  history  of  contem- 
porary German  poetry,  his  book  is  of  great  importance  for  the 
history  of  the  German  "Volkslied,"  which  still  remains  to  be 
written.1  The  most  important  effort  in  this  direction,  Ludwig 
Uhland's  classical  "Abhandlung  "  (Schriften  zur  Geschichte  und 
Sage,  III),  presents  the  subject  from  a  comparative  point  of  view, 
and  is  less  concerned  with  a  critical  investigation  of  the  historical 
growth  of  German  popular  poetry.  Hence  Uhland  has  confined 
himself  almost  exclusively  to  the  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  centuries, 
only  occasionally  referring  to  the  older  forms  of  the  Volkslied  in 
German  literature.  And  in  the  appendix  to  his  collection  (Vol. 
II  973),  where  he  speaks  of  his  "  Quellen"  and  the  linguistic  treat- 
ment of  his  text,  he  simply  enumerates  and  describes  the  former 
without  making  mention  of  our  Chronicle  and  other  important 
collections ;  whereas,  Tilemann's  specimens  being  the  first  historical 
documents  of  popular  poetry  after  the  decline  of  the  "  Minnesang," 
it  seems  natural  that  his  account  should  become  the  starting  point 
of  an  investigation  into  the  development  of  the  "Volkslied."  And 
while  a  comparison  with  the  earlier  forms  of  the  "  Minnesang  " 
and  the  later  "  Volkslied  "  will  serve  the  final  aim  of  this  paper,  it 
may  perhaps  also  contribute  to  a  future  critical  history  of  German 
popular  poetry. 

1  F.  H.  Otto  Weddigen's  Geschichte  der  deutschen  Volkspoesie,  a  mere  com- 
pilation without  original  research,  can  of  course  not  pass  for  such. 


25 

But  before  we  proceed  to  such  a  comparison,  a  few  remarks  of 
a  more  general  character  may  not  be  out  of  place.  For  although 
we  believe  ourselves  to  have  proved  that  Tilemann  himself  cannot 
be  the  author  of  the  songs  recorded  by  him,  it  might  still  be 
claimed  that  our  songs  originated  under  the  influence  of  the  Min- 
nesang.  It  is  one  of  the  principal  arguments  of  Wilmanns  that 
the  want  of  documents  of  early  popular  love-poetry  is  to  be 
explained  "  aus  der  Natur  des  menschlichen  Herzens  und  allmah- 
licher  Entwickelung  des  geistigen  Lebens."  If  through  French 
influence  it  became  gradually  known  and  fashionable  in  Germany 
to  give  artistic  expression  to  the  deepest  feeling  of  the  human 
soul,  is  it  not  possible  that  the  popular  poetry  of  which  our  chronicle 
relates  was  at  least  indirectly  due  to  the  fact  that  the  German 
people  in  general  had  learned  from  the  Minnepoetry  of  the  court 
circles  and  the  "  Spielleute  "  to  sing  their  loves  ? 

K.  Burdach,  in  his  essay  (Zeitschr.  f.  d.  Alt.  XXVII  343  ff.)  has, 
according  to  my  opinion,  proved  conclusively  that  we  owe  this 
love  poetry  to  the  general  character  of  Volkspoesie,  which  is  that 
of  a  happy  improvisation  coming  and  passing  away  with  the 
moment  of  its  birth,  if  we  do  not  possess  specimens  from  the 
oldest  times.  He  has  shown  further,  by  the  example  of  the 
poetry  of  many  nations,  especially  of  savage  tribes,  that  it  is  not 
at  all  against  "  die  Natur  des  menschlichen  Herzens  "  to  express 
itself  in  lyrical  strains,  perhaps  long  before  the  rise  of  the  epos ; 
and  the  songs  of  our  chronicle  may  probably  add  another  argu- 
ment to  the  evidence  against  the  fallacious  notion  of  a  presumed 
older  age  of  epic  poetry.  The  defenders  of  this  idea  support  their 
opinion  mainly  by  the  fact  that  the  exterior  world  lends  itself  much 
sooner  and  much  more  easily  to  an  objective  artistic  treatment  by 
the  poet  than  the  world  of  emotions,  and  wherever  the  latter 
begins  to  find  artistic  expression  it  is  supposed  to  commence  with 
a  symbolization  of  the  exterior  world,  as  it  is  still  to  be  found  in 
the  "  Natureingang  "  of  the  Minnesang  and  the  later  Volkslied.  I 
believe  this  is  a  prejudice  to  which  even  Uhland  is  somewhat  sub- 
ject, although  he  says  of  the  poetic  form  of  certain  parting  songs : 
"Andre  Abschiedslieder  entschlagen  sich  ganzlich  der  Bilder  und 
Naturanklange.  Das  wahre  Weh,  die  innigste  Empfindung  ver- 
schmahen  allerdings  oft  jeden  andern  Ausdruck  als  den  unmittel- 
barsten"  (Schriften,  III  446).  But  who  would  deny  that  "  wahres 
Weh  und  innigste  .Empfindung"  the  special  characteristic  of  all 
true  Volkspoesie,  should  not  have  found  its  rhythmical  expression 


26 

at  least  as  early  as  the  exterior  world  became  an  object  of  poetical 
imagination  in  epic  poetry  ?  It  is  a  psychological  fact  that  the 
soul,  oppressed  by  violent  passions  and  emotions,  loses  the  free- 
dom necessary  for  an  imaginative  Artistic  treatment  of  its  various 
conditions.  But  would  we  call  the  rhythmical  liberation  of  the 
soul,  the  primitive  sounds  of  deepest  emotion  that  seize  us  with 
elementary  force,  less  poetic  than  the  more  artistic  forms  which 
betray  the  free  play  of  imagination  with  the  feelings  ?  The  almost 
entire  absence  of  imaginative  forms  of  expressions,  of  metaphors, 
Natureingang,  etc.,  in  the  songs  of  our  chronicle,  which  is  not  due  to 
an  element  of  bare  reflection,  seems  to  me  a  proof  of  their  originality 
and  age  as  well  as  of  the  age  of  the  popular  love  song  in  general. 
Even  the  epic  element,  pointing  to  the  peculiar  circumstances  or 
situation  from  which  the  single  poem  arose,  is  here  wanting.  Only 
in  one  case  Tilemann  mentions  that  the  song  was  composed  in 
praise  of  a  beautiful  woman  in  Strassburg,  but,  as  if  perfectly  con- 
scious of  the  individual  and  general  character  of  popular  poetry, 
he  immediately  and  carefully  adds  that  it  was  true  of  all  good 
women  (unde  triffet  auch  alle  gude  wibe  an,  37,  12). 

This  simplicity  in  the  expression  of  feeling,  the  absence  of 
stylistic  qualities  peculiar  to  artistic  poetry,  may  also  be  observed 
in  most  of  the  few  specimens  of  German  popular  poetry  before 
the  rise  of  the  Minnesong,  with  which  we  shall  have  to  compare 
our  songs.  To  these  we  count  also  the  German  strophes  in  the 
Carmina  Burana,  a  collection  of  Latin  "  Vagantenpoesie  "  made  in 
the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries,  of  both  contemporary  and 
of  earlier  material.  Here  we  only  consider  those  which  very 
probably  belong  to  the  twelfth  century,  and  which  E.  Martin,  in 
his  essay  on  the  Carmina  Burana  (Zeitschr.  f.  d.  Altert.  20,  46  ff.), 
declared  imitations  of  the  Latin  poems  to  which  they  are  appended. 
Since  K.  Burdach  (Reinmar  und  Walther,  155  ff.)  has  refuted 
Martin's  opinion  as  far  as  it  is  based  upon  metrical  considerations, 
a  further  discussion  of  this  question  is  not  necessary.  Martin, 
however,  in  order  to  support  the  theory,  already  advanced  by 
Schmeller,  that  the  German  Minnesong  had  developed  from  the 
Latin  "  Vagantenpoesie,"  says :  "  in  keiner  dieser  strophen — so 
getraue  ich  mich  zu  behaupten — ist  ein  wiirklich  individueller 
gedanke  oder  eine  hindeutung  auf  bestimmte  verhaltnisse  zu 
finden."  According  to  my  opinion  of  the  character  of  the  oldest 
popular  love  poetry,  this  seeming  defect  is  rather  a  strong  proof  for 
their  age  and  originality,  which  is  still  further  strengthened  by  their 


27 

metrical  qualities,  of  which  we  shall  treat  later.  The  same  artless 
expression  of  the  deep  feeling  of  love  may  be  found  in  the  fol- 
lowing strophe,  Car.  Bur.  9ga : 

Solde  ih  noh'den  tach  geleben, 

dag  ih  wunschen  solde 

nah  der  diu  mir  froude  geben 

mach,  ob  si  noh  wolde. 

Rfin  herge  muz  nah  ir  streben  ; 

mohtih  si  han  holde, 

so  wolde  ih  in  wunne  svveben, 

swere  ih  nimmer  dolde. 

To  this  I  could  easily  add  more  specimens  of  the  same  character, 
though  varying  in  their  themes,  since  the  joy  at  the  appearance  of 
spring  and  in  its  gay  dances  certainly  found  also  a  very  early 
expression  in  simple  improvised  strophes. 

There  is,  however,  one  song  among  the  poems  of  our  chronicle 
which  presupposes  a  definite  situation,  and  which  for  this  reason, 
probably,  has  been  inserted  in  many  collections  of  popular  poetry, 
the  "  Nonnenlied,"  48,  5  : 

Got  gebe  ime  ein  vurdreben  jar, 
der  mich  machte  zu  einer  nunnen 
und  mir  den  swarzen  mantel  gap, 
den  wiszen  rock  darunden. 

Sal  ich  gewerden  eine  nunn 
sunder  minen  willen, 
so  wel  ich  eime  knaben  Jung 
sinen  komer  stillen. 

Und  stillet  he  mir  den  minen  nit, 
daran  mach  he  vurlisen. 

The  contents  of  this  song  immediately  remind  us  of  the  cele- 
brated Capitulare  of  Charlemagne,  of  789,'  forbidding  the  nuns 
winileodes  scribere  vel  mittere,  and  seem  to  prove  that  winileod 
may,  in  this  connection,  very  well  mean  love-song,  though  its 
original  meaning,  according  to  Miillenhoff  (Z.  f.  d.  A.  9,  128  ff.; 
MSB.  362  ff.),  was  probably  "Gesellenlied."  That  these  "  winileod  " 
were  certainly  not  of  a  very  sacred  nature  can  be  seen  from  the 
additional  clause :  et  de  pallore  earum  propter  sanguinis  minua- 
tionem.  Our  song  may,  therefore,  very  well  be  considered  a 
specimen  of  the  poetry  of  nuns,  even  should  it  destroy  the  modern 
idea  of  a  mediaeval  nun,  the  creation  of  sickly  romanticists. 

1  Cf.  Wackernagel,  Litgesch.  I  48  Anm.;  Uhland,  Schriften,  III  457. 


28 


Sappho's  classic  eyas  6e  nova  Karevftv  was,  however,  frequently  para- 
phrased in  the  nunneries  of  various  centuries.1 

1  Since  the  collections  containing  this  popular  poetry  are  not  accessible  to 
every  reader  in  our  country  I  shall  quote  some  of  the  songs. 

From  the  sixteenth  century  we  have  the  following  (Bohme,  Altdeutsches 
Liederbuch,  N.  242)  : 

1.  Ach  gott  wem  sol  ichs  klagen    • 
das  herzeleiden  mein  ! 

Mein  Herz  will  mir  verzagen, 
gefangen  muss  ich  sein  ; 
Ins  kloster  bin  ich  gezogen 
in  meinen  jungen  jarn 
darin  ich  muste  leben 
kein  freud  noch  luste  haben  : 
das  klag  ich  allzeit  gott  ! 

2.  Ach  nun  zu  diser  stunde 
hort  was  ich  sagen  tu  : 
Verflucht  seind  all  mein  freunde 
die  mirs  haben  bracht  darzu  ! 
Dass  ich  mich  sol  erweren 
des  nicht  zu  erweren  ist, 
mein  gut  tun  sie  verzeren, 
mein  sel  h5chlich  beschweren  : 
das  klag  ich  von  himel  Christ,  etc. 

While  the  former  poem  reflects  the  influence  of  the  Reformation  to  a  certain 
degree,  the  following  song,  from  the  same  century,  is  entirely  composed  in  the 
spirit  of  "  Got  gebe  im,"  etc.  ;  cf.  Bohme,  243: 

1.  Ich  sollt  ein  nonnlein  werden, 
ich  hat  kein  lust  darzu  ; 

Ich  ess  nicht  gerne  gerste, 
wach  auch  nicht  gerne  fru. 
Gottjjeb  dem  klaffer  ungliick  vil, 
der  mich  armes  magdelein 
ins  kloster  bringen  wil  ! 

2.  Im  kloster,  im  kloster, 
da  mag  ich  nicht  gesein  ; 

Da  schneidt  man  mir  mein  harlein  ab, 
bringt  mir  gross  schwere  pein. 
Gott  geb  dem  klaffer  ungliick  vil, 
der  mich  armes  magdelein 
ins  kloster  bringen  wil  ! 

3.  Und  wann  es  komt  um  mitternacht, 
schlagt  man  die  glocken  an, 

So  hab  ich  armes  magdelein 
noch  nie  kein  schlaf  getan. 


29 

The  imperfect  rhymes  Jar  :  gap  of  our  song,  which  are  a  sign  of 
its  age,  have  induced  me  to  change  the  first  verse  of  the  second 
strophe  in  order  to  establish  the  rhymes  nunn  :jung.  All  the 
MSS  read  here :  sal  ich  ein  nunn  gewerden  ;  but  it  is  evident  that 
my  proposed  reading  at  least  approximates  the  original  text.  The 
rhymes  nunnen :  drunden,  willen  :  stillen,  apparently  feminine,  are 
surely  to  be  considered  masculine,  since  none  of  the  last  syllables 
of  these  words  are  accented.  The  expression,  Got  gebe  ime  ein 
vurdreben  jar,  was  evidently  proverbial  and  popular;  M.  F.  9,  18: 
got  der  gebe  in  leit !  Walther  von  der  Vogelweide,  119,  17  :  Got 
gebe  ir  rfmer  guten  tac. 

Proceeding  to  the  remaining  songs  of  our  chronicle,  we  find  as 
one  of  their  characteristic  features,  which  they  have  in  common 
with  all  true  popular  poetry,  that  they  are  addressed  to  girls,  and 
not  to  married  women  as  most  poems  of  the  Minnesingers  are. 
This  natural,  healthy  and  ethical  condition,  gradually  disclosed 
again  in  the  course  of  his  development  by  the  classical  represen- 
tative of  Minnepoetry,  Walther  von  der  Vogelweide,  seems  to  be 
a  matter  of  course  in  our  poems.  And  we  are  surprised  at  the 

Gott  geb  dem  klaffer  ungliick  vil, 
der  mich  armes  magdelein 
ins  kloster  bringen  wil ! 

4.  Und  warm  ich  vor  die  abtissin  kom, 
so  sicht  sie  mich  sauer  an  ; 

Vil  lieber  wolt  ich  freien 

ein  hiibschen  jungen  man, 

Und  der  mein  steter  bule  mag  sein, 

so  war  ich  armes  magdelein 

des  fastens  und  betens  frei. 

5.  Ade,  ade,  feins  klosterlein, 
ade,  gehab  dich  wol ! 

Ich  weiss  ein  herzallerliebsten  mein, 

der  mich  erfreuen  sol ; 

Auf  in  setz  ich  mein  zuversicht, 

ein  nonnlein  werd  ich  nimmer  nicht, 

ade,  feins  klosterlein  ! 

This  song  was  selected  as  a  specimen  of  the  present  time  ;  cf.  Erk,  Lieder- 
hort,  No.  148 : 

i.  O  Klosterleben,  du  Einsamkeit, 
du  stilles  und  ruhiges  Leben  ! 
dir  hab  ich  mich  ganzlich  ergeben, 
zu  ftihren  ein  geistliches  Leben  : 
O  Himmel,  was  hab  ich  gethan  ! 
die  Liebe  war  Schuld  daran. 


30 

sublime  simplicity  of  womanhood  which  appears  in  the  background, 
as  it  were,  of  these  songs.  There  is  no  description  of  the  physical 
beauty  of  woman,  in  which  the  Minnesingers  abound  ;  only  once 
the  "  zarte  rote  mondelin  "  is  modestly  mentioned.  All  the  quali- 
ties attributed  to  her  are  of  a  higher  ethical  character,  as  rein,  gut, 
minneclich,  zart,  ziichtig,  thus  showing  the  same  purity  and  ten- 
derness of  feeling  which  appears  in  the  earliest  German  poems 
addressed  to  the  Virgin  Mary.  She  is  the  "  liveste  frauwe  min," 
the  source  of  pure  "freude"  There  are  two  strophes  which  show 
this  very  evidently.  65,  2  : 

Gepuret  reine  und  suberlich 

weisz  ich  ein  wip  gar  minneclich, 

di  ist  mit  zochten  wol  bewart ; 

ich  wolde  daz  si  ez  woste,  di  reine  zart. 

37,  13: 

Eins  reinen  guclen.  wibes  angesichte 
und  frauweliche  zucht  darbi 
di  sint  werlich  gut  zu  sehen. 
Zu  guden  wiben  han  ich  plichte, 
wan  si  sin  alles  wandels  fri. 

It   is  true  there   are,  especially   in   the  earliest   Minnesingers, 
similar  expressions  of  tender  feeling,  but  their  poetry  was  limited 

2.  Des  Morgens  wenn  ich  zur  Kirche  geh, 
muss  singen  und  beten  alleine  ; 

und  wenn  ich  das  Gloria  patri  sing, 

so  liegt  mir  mein  Schatzlein  wol  immer  im  Sinn  : 

O  Himmel,  was  hab  ich  gethan  ! 

die  Liebe  war  Schuld  daran. 

3.  Dort  kommt  mein  Vater  und  Mutter  her, 
sie  beten  fur  sich  alleine  ; 

sie  haben  gar  schone  Kleider  an, 
ich  aber  muss  in  der  Kutten  stahn  : 
O  Himmel,  was  hab  ich  gethan ! 
die  Liebe  war  Schuld  daran. 

4.  Des  Mittags  wenn  ich  zum  Essen  geh, 
find  ich  es  mein  Tischchen  alleine  ; 

dann  ess  ich  mein  Brot  und  trinke  mein  Wein  : 
ach,  konnt  ich  bei  meinem  sch5n  Schatzchen  sein  ! 
O  Himmel,  was  hab  ich  gethan  ! 
die  Liebe  war  Schuld  daran. 

5.  Des  Abends  wenn  ich  nun  schlafen  geh, 
find  ich  es  mein  Bettchen  alleine  ; 
dann  lieg  ich  und  kann  nicht  erwarmen  : 
ach,  hatt  ich  mein  Schatzchen  in  Armen  ! 
O  Himmel,  was  hab  ich  gethan  ! 

die  Liebe  war  Schuld  daran. 


to  the  exclusive  circles  of  the  nobility.  We  cannot  prove  that 
their  ideas  penetrated  among  the  common  people,  and  it  is,  there- 
fore, almost  entirely  out  of  the  question  that  they  should  have 
influenced  popular  poetry.  It  seems,  on  the  other  hand,  much 
more  probable  that  they  themselves  drew  from  the  same  source 
which  flows  so  refreshingly  in  the  songs  of  our  chronicle.  For  the 
first  time  the  ethical  spirit  of  the  people,  destined  to  become  such 
a  powerful  element  in  the  literary  regeneration  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  manifests  itself  independently  in  these  deeply  felt  songs, 
and  we  can  follow  in  the  later  development  of  the  Volkslied  the 
growth  of  the  human  ideal  disclosed  therein.  One  of  the  most 
important  documents  for  the  study  of  its  history  can  be  found  in 
the  Liederbuch  der  Clara  Hatzlerin  (ed.  C.  Haltaus,  1840),  a  col- 
lection of  various  kinds  of  poetry  made  by  a  nun  of  Augsburg 
in  the  fifteenth  century.  Among  .the  134  lyrical  pieces  of  the  first 
part,  which  consist  of  a  number  of  Tagelieder,  Meisterlieder,  and 
poems  of  known  poets  of  that  period,  we  discover  several  songs  of 
an  entirely  popular  character.  Their  language  and  tone  resemble 
so  much  that  of  the  songs  of  Tilemann's  Chronicle  that  his  asser- 
tion of  the  popularity  of  his  songs  cannot  possibly  be  doubted. 
The  monostrophic  improvisation  of  the  Limburger  songs  has 
developed  already  into  the  poem  of  several  strophes  in  the  Lieder- 
buch of  the  fifteenth  century,  and  the  purity  and  depth  of  their 
feeling  mark  a  striking  contrast  to  the  lascivious  tone  of  the  Tage- 
lieder which  immediately  precede  them.  They  also  are  addressed 
to  girls,  who  are  called  schdn,  frumm,  wandelsfrey  (No.  31,  i), 
die  rain,  die  sauberlich  (pretty)  (38,  8),  zart  lieb  (48,  2),  etc. 
They  are  der  hochste  schatz  und  groste  fr'dd  (65,  i),  their  heart 
is  genaden  vol,  etc.  It  is  unnecessary  to  add  that  woman  is 
described  with  the  same  colors  in  the  classical  popular  songs  of 
the  sixteenth  century. 

This  pure  and  high  conception  of  womanhood  could  certainly 
not  be  without  influence  upon  the  relation  of  man  to  woman,  and 
it  is  here  that  the  ethical  spirit  of  true  popular  poetry  reveals  itself 
in  a  sublime  manner.  The  final  aim  for  which  all  the  "  service  " 
of  the  Minnesinger  was  intended  is  never  mentioned  in  these  songs. 
Instead  of  the  desire  for  possession,  or  of  sensual  enjoyment,  it  is  the 
idea  of  eternal  fidelity  which  rules  the  feelings  of  all  these  songs,  and 
it  is  perhaps  significant  that  the  theme  of  infidelity  is  scarcely 
treated  in  the  earliest  folksongs.  In  the  following  songs  this  plea 
for  fidelity  appears  as  simply  and  tenderly  expressed  as  anywhere 
in  the  realms  of  poetry.  37,  23  : 


32 

Ach  reinez  \vip  von  gucler  art, 
gedenke  an  alle  stedicheit, 
daz  man  auch  ni  von  dir  gesait, 
daz  reinen  wiben  obel  steit. 
Daran  saltu  gedenken 
und  salt  nit  von  mir  wenken, 
di  wile  daz  ich  daz  leben  ban. 
Noch  1st  mir  einer  klage  not 
von  der  livesten  frauvven  min, 
daz  ir  zartez  mondelin  rot 
\vel  mir  ungenedig  sin. 
Si  wil  mich  zu  grunt  vurderben, 
untrost  wel  si  an  mich  erben, 
dazu  enweisz  ich  keinen  rat. 

53.  17  : 

Ich  wel  in  hofFen  leben  vort, 

ob  mir  it  heiles  moge  geschehen 
von  der  livesten  frauwen  min. 
Spreche  si  zu  mir  ein  fruntlich  wort, 
so  solde  truren  von  mir  flihen. 

flch  wel  in  hoffen  leben  vort, 
ob  mir  it  heiles  moge  geschehen 
von  der  livesten  frauvven  min. 
Ir  gunste  i  mit  heile  bekorte. 
Ach  Got,  daz  ich  si  solde  sehen. 

ilch  wel  in  hoffen  leben  vort 
ob  mir  it  heiles  moge  geschehen 
von  der  livesten  frauwen  min. 
65,  20: 

Wie  mochte  mir  umber  basz  gesin 

in  ruwen  ? 

Ez  grunet  mir  in  dem  herzen  min 

als  uf  der  auwen. 

Daran  gedenke 

Min  lip,  und  nit  enwenke. 

Of  all  the  songs  recorded  by  Tilemann,  37,  23  will  probably 
remind  us  most  of  the  style  of  the  Minnesongs,  especially  since  it 
is  mentioned  as  early  as  1350.  A  closer  examination  of  its 
language,  however,  will  show  its  relation  to  earlier  and  later  folk- 
songs: von  guder  art ;  cf.  Goedeke,  Liederbuch  aus  dem  16  Jahr- 
hunclert,  No.  14,  i :  vonedler  art ;  72,  16  :  von  edler  art.  stedicheit 
is  the  technical  term  for  fidelity  in  the  Minnesongs  as  well  as  in  the 
earlier  folksongs;  cf.  MF.  16,  i  ;  Walther  v.  d.  Vogelw.  43,  29: 
wir  man  wir  wellen  daz  diu  staetekeit  in  guoten  wiben  gar  ein 
kr6ne  si ;  Liederbuch  der  Hatzlerin,  36,  17  ;  72,  31 ;  117,  10.  In 
one  of  the  fragments  of  our  chronicle  which  probably  notes  only 


33 

the  beginnings  of  three  strophes,  the  word  truwe  is  used ;  cf.  56, 
1 8,  ich  wil  dir  i  mit  ganzen  truwen  leben.  The  mondelin  rot 
occurs  in  one  of  the  oldest  strophes  of  the  Car.  Bur.  as  roser- 
varwer  mund  (1363).  ivenken  is  very  often  used  in  the  Liederb. 
d.  H.  di  wile  daz  ich  daz  leben  han;  cf.  M.  F.  9,  25:  die  wile 
unz  ich  daz  leben  han. 

53,  17  is  of  great  interest  in  regard  to  strophic  construction,  in 
hoffen  leben;  cf.  L.  d.  Hatzl.  102,  31,  in  hoffen  ich  leb  ;  and  our 
chronicle  49,  n,  hoffen  heldet  mir  das  leben. 

65,  20  must  certainly  be  called  the  gem  of  Tilemann's  collec- 
tion. "  Wi  mochte  mir  umber  basz  gesin"  is  a  proverbial  expres- 
sion ;  cf.  Parcival,  222,  30,  wie  mohte  der  imer  baz  gesin.  L.  d. 
H.  Spriiche,  No.  49,  Ich  bin  ir  sy  mein,  wie  mocht  uns  baiden 
bas  gesein.  Ez  grunet  mir  in  dem  herzen  min  occurs  in  the 
mystics:  cf.  Pfeifer,  Deutsche  Mystiker,  I  4,  dar  leben  unses 
herren  dar  grunete  und  wuchs  in  der  lute  herze;  cf.  MSH.  ii2b, 
so  grunet  min  herze,  als  iuwer  kl£. 

The  idea  of  fidelity  expresses  itself  most  beautifully  also  in 
the  two  little  parting  songs  of  Tilemann's  collection.  The  pain  of 
parting  was  very  effectively  introduced  into  the  Tagelieder  by  the 
Minnesingers  in  order  to  form  a  strong  contrast  to  the  feeling  of 
happiest  enjoyment  to  which  the  lovers  had  previously  given  them- 
selves up  (cf.  Walter  De  Gruyter,  Das  deutsche  Tagelied,  37  ff.) 
The  situation  as  well  as  the  tone  of  expressing  the  sorrow  of 
parting  is  entirely  different  in  our  songs,  and  perfectly  in  accord- 
ance with  their  ethical  character.  45,  5  : 

Ach  Got,  daz  ich  si  miden  musz, 
di  ich  zu  den  freuden  hatte  irkoren, 
daz  dut  mir  werlich  alzu  we. 
Mochte  mir  noch  werden  ein  fruntlich  grusz, 
des  ich  so  lange  han  enboren. 
51,  22: 

Miden  scheiden, 
daz  dut  werlich  we 
uzer  maszen  we. 

Und  enist  daz  nit  unmoeglichefi, 

von  einer  di  ich  gerne  anse. 

My  reasons  for  arranging  the  last  song  in  this  manner  will  be 
given  later.  I  believe  it  is  a  whole  strophe  and  does  not  contain 
the  beginnings  of  several  strophes,  as  Lorenz  and  Wyss  seem  to 
think.  Several  expressions  in  both  songs  recur  almost  verbally  in 
numerous  parting  songs  not  only  of  the  sixteenth  century,  but  also 
in  the  Minnesingers  and  in  popular  poetry  of  the  present  time  (cf. 


34 

Wilmanns,  Leben  Walthers,  399).  The  intimate  relation  of  these 
songs  of  the  Limburger  Chronik  to  those  of  the  Liederbuch  der 
Hatzlerin  appears  most  manifestly  in  the  following  poems  quoted 
from  the  latter.  50 : 

Gesegen  dich  got,  liebs  frawlin  zart ! 
Ich  schaid  von  dir  vnd  lasz  dich  hie, 
Vergisz  mein  nit,  et  leyt  mir  hart, 
Wann  ich  dir  was  mit  triuen  ye 
Vnd  will  dir  wencken  nymmermer. 

Gesegen  dich  got,  mein  hertz  ist  dein, 
Du  bist  mein  trost,  mein  vsserwelt ! 
Die  weil  ich  leb,  so  will  ich  sein 
Mit  stattigkeit  zu  dir  geselt ! 
So  volgt  nur  fra'd,  wa  ich  hin  cher. 

Seid  hoffen  ist  fur  trauren  gut, 
So  hoff  ich  wager  werd  mein  sach. 
Ye  lieber  chind,  ye  scherpffer  rut, 
Halt  vest,  als  mir  dem  gnad  versprach, 
So  hab  ich  frad  on  wider  ker. 

Gesegen  dich  got,  ist  nit  mein  fug, 
Es  pringt  mir  leid  vnd  senende  clag. 
Meiner  tusend  triigen  laids  genuog 
An  dem,  das  ich  allaine  trag ; 
Doch  nert  mich  hoffen  wider  her. 

77 : 

Ach  schaiden.  du  vil  senende  not, 

Das  mir  dein  gwalt  ye  gepott, 
Du  machst  mich  plaich,  rott, 
Bis  in  den  tot, 
Das  mir  nit  wtirser  mag  gesein. 

Das  hertz  ist  allzeit  traurens  vol, 

Wann  sich  lieb  von  lieb  schaiden  sol  ; 

Es  tut  nit  wol ! 

Darumb  ich  dol 

Gar  senlich  in  dem  hertzen  mein. 

Mit  manigem  seiiftzen  ynneclich 
Stand  Bwar  mein  gedenck  hinder  sich, 
Wie  wol  ich 
Gen  nyemantz  sprich, 
Dest  geringer  ist  das  hertz  nicht. 
86: 

Meiden  hat  mich  ser  verwundt 
Gar  tieff  in  meines  hertzen  grunt ; 
Das  macht  ir  lieb,  von  der  mir  kunt 
Ist  worden  gantze  stattikait. 


35 

Nun  hilff  geliick  zu  statter  triw, 
Wann  meiden  pringt  gross  affterrew, 
Gen  ainer  da  mein  lieb  ist  new 
Tag  vnd  nacht  on  vnderschaid. 

Sy  liebt  mir  ye  fur  all  dis  welt, 
Ich  hoff,  ich  vind  des  widergelt, 
Das  vnser  lieb  bleib  vnvermelt  ; 
In  praun  vnd  gron  ist  sy  geclaidt. 

A  decisive  proof  for  the  age  of  our  songs,  and  consequently 
also  indirectly  for  the  age  of  German  Volkspoesie  in  general,  may, 
according  to  my  opinion,  be  gathered  from  their  metrical  construc- 
tion. And  we  shall  find  that  in  the  structure  of  the  verses  as  well 
as  of  the  strophes  they  follow  old  Germanic  metrical  laws. 

For  centuries  German  prosody  was  suffering  under  the  ascendancy 
of  rules  abstracted  from  the  ancients,  and  even  classic  poets  of  the 
last  century  were  mainly  guided  by  their  metrical  instinct  and  feeling. 
The  liberation  of  those  ancient  fetters  we  owe  to  the  excellent  re- 
searches of  R.  Westphal,  who  for  the  first  time  showed  conclusively 
that  the  principle  of  accent  and  rhythm,  and  not  that  of  quantity, 
is  the  fundamental  metrical  law  of  German  poetry  (Theorie  der 
Neuhochdeutschen  Metrik,  2  AufL,  1877).  In  his  essay,  Zur  ver- 
gleichenden  Metrik  der  indogermanischen  Volker  (Kuhn's  Zeit- 
schr.  IX  437),  he  had  made  the  revolutionizing  discovery  of  the 
common  basis  of  all  Indogermanic  prosody  consisting  of  2  X  8 
syllables  divided  by  a  caesura  after  the  eighth  syllable.  In  the 
second  edition  of  Die  Metrik  der  Griechen  von  A.  Rossbach  und 
R.  Westphal,  1868,  he  attempted  to  show  that  the  same  principle 
of  metrical  construction  was  to  be  found  in  the  anushtubh  of  the 
Veda  and  the  cloka  of  classical  Sanskrit,  as  well  as  in  the  versus 
saturnius  and  the  old  German  "  Langzeile."  His  opinion  was 
supported  in  regard  to  the  prosody  of  the  A  vesta  by  K.  Geldner, 
in  his  treatise,  Ueber  die  Metrik  der  jiingeren  Avesta,  Tubingen, 
1877.  Starting  from  the  results  obtained  by  these  two  scholars, 
Professor  F.  Allen  (Kuhn's  Zeitschr.  XXIV  556  ff.)  found  that 
the  metrical  unity  of  the  Indogermanic  verse  was  the  tetrapodic 
hemistich,  out  of  which  the  Indian  and  old  Germanic  versus 
longus  and  also  the  Greek  hexameter  had  gradually  developed. 
Independently  of  Allen,  H.  Usener,  in  his  -excellent  book,  Alt- 
griechischer  Versbau,  ein  Versuch  vergleichender  Metrik,  Bonn, 
1887,  which  also  abounds  in  valuable  suggestions  for  German 


metrics,  has  reached  the  same  results.1  In  order  to  support  his 
theory  of  the  development  of  the  hexameter  from  the  tetrapodic 
Indogermanic  "  Urvers,"  Usener  justly  points  to  the  fact :  von 
hause  aus  gibt  es  nur  6inen  deutschen  vers  von  vier  hebungen. 
Er  wird  nicht  gemessen  nach  silbenzahl,  nicht  nach  quantitat, 
sondern  nach  jenen  vier  hebungen,  die  vom  sprachlichen  hochton 
getragen  sind.  Das  ist  die  form  aller  unserer  erzahlenden  poesie 
gewesen,  so  weit  wir  sie  zuriick  verfolgen  konnen  und  ebenso  der 
volksmassigen  lyrik  bis  auf  den  heutigen  tag.  In  the  course  of 
his  discussion  he  calls  attention  to  the  principal  peculiarities  of  the 
prosody  of  German  popular  poetry  which  are  mostly  due  to  the 
influence  of  rhythm,  as  already  observed  by  E.  StolteinhisMetrische 
Studien  liber  das  deutsche  Volkslied,  1883,  and  recently  treated 
by  E.  Sievers  in  his  essay,  Die  Entstehung  des  deutschen  Reim- 
verses  (Paul  &  Braune's  Beitrage,  XIII  121  ff.)2 

While  we  find  in  the  development  of  the  artistic  Minnepoetry  a 
gradual  observance  of  the  regular  change  of  arsis  (Hebung)  and 
thesis  (Senkung),  the  entire  omission  as  well  as  the  accumulation 
of  a  number  of  theses  between  two  arses  will  be  frequently  noticed 
in  popular  poetry.  It  is  wrong  to  see  in  the  omission  of  the  thesis 
the  effect  of  a  conscious  artistic  reflection  on  the  part  of  the  poet, 
as  it  has  been  done  by  Bartsch,3  who  discovered  it  in  the  Nibe- 
lungenlied,  and  by  R.  Becker,"  who  believes  to  be  able  to  prove 
it  in  the  earliest  Austrian  Minnesongs.  The  absence  of  the  thesis 
is  to  be  explained  not  only  "  aus  der  freude  an  kraftvoller  betonung  " 
(Usener),  but  also  by  the  dipodic  structure  of  the  German  verse, 
and  the  consequent  distinction  of  a  "  haupt-  und  nebenton." 

A  mere  glance  at  the  songs  of  our  chronicle  will  convince  us 
that  we  have  here  before  us  the  old  Germanic  verse  of  four  accents 
with  a  frequent  syncope  of  the  thesis.  I  have  noticed  the  following 
cases  :  37,  31  von  der  livesten  fratfwen  min;  37,  32  daz  ir  zartez 
mondelin  rot;  37,33  wel  mir  ungene"dig  sin;  48,  10  sunder  mine'n 
willen  ;  48, 12  sinen  k6m€r  stillen  ;  53,  19  von  der  livesten  frauwen 
min;  65,  21  in  ruwen;  65,  23  als  uf  der  aiiw6n.  A  similar 
syncope  of  the  thesis  may  be  observed  in  the  following  German 
strophes  of  the  Carm.  Bur.:  993,  5;  icoa,  5;  i27a,  4;  1293; 

1  Cf.  R.  Westphal,  Gott.  gel.  Anz.,  No.  20,1887. 

2  Unfortunately,  I  did  not  receive  Professor  Wilmanns'  exceedingly  profound 
treatise,  Der  altdeutsche  Reimvers,  until  this  essay  was  printed. 

3Cf.  Bartsch,  Untersuch.  iiber  das  Nibelungenlied,  142  <T. 
4R.  Becker,  Der  altheimische  Minnesang,  50  ff. 


37 

i4ia,  3 ;  for  it  is  absurd,  according  to  my  opinion,  if  Martin  adopts 
in  these  cases  "  sprachlich  unrichtige  Betonung  "  in  order  to  save 
his  theory  (cf.  Burdach,  Reinmar  und  Walther,  156).  By  the  aid 
of  these  observations  concerning  accentuation,  I  believe  to  be  able 
to  reconstruct  one  of  our  songs  hitherto  considered  as  a  fragment, 
and  as  a  proof  for  the  fact  that  Tilemann  noted  the  melody  rather 
than  the  text  of  the  songs  as  he  did  in  the  case  of  the  Flagellant 
poetry  (cf.  Lorenz,  Deutschlands  Geschichtsquellen 3  I  144).  I 
propose  to  read  51,  22  in  the  following  manner: 

Mi'den,  scheiden 

daz  dut  werlich  we 

uszer  maszen  we. 

und  enist  daz  nit  unmoeglichen, 

von  einer,  di  ich  gem  anse. 

A  similar  difference  between  the  songs  of  our  chronicle  and  the 
artistic  Minnepoetry  is  to  be  found  in  regard  to  the  use  of  the  anakru- 
sis.  The  strict  rules  of  prosody  of  the  Minnepoetry  allow  only 
monosyllabic  anakrusis,  and  there  are  only  a  few  exceptions  to  this 
rule  even  in  the  beginnings  of  the  artistic  poetry  (cf.  Haupt,  M.  F. 
292).  The  popular  poetry,  however,  has  always  treated  this  rule 
with  disrespect.  While  the  exceptions  in  M.  F.  show  only  dissyl- 
labic anakrusis,  most  of  the  cases  occurring  in  Spervogel  and  other 
poems  of  a  popular  nature,  an  anakrusis  of  two,  three  and  more 
syllables  is  not  unusual  in  our  songs  :  37,  31  von  der  liveste"n ;  37, 
32  daz  ir  zartez ;  65,  23  als  uf  der  auw6n  ;  37,  13  eins  reinen 
guden.  The  same  treatment  of  the  anakrusis  prevails  in  Car.  Bur. 
112;  io6a,  7  ;  loSa,  4. 

A  further  proof  for  the  popularity  and  age  of  the  songs  of  our 
chronicle  can  be  obtained  from  an  observation  of  the  nature  of  the 
rhymes.  Although  the  distinction  between  masculine  and  femi- 
nine rhymes  appears  quite  plainly  in  our  songs,  the  masculine 
rhyme  is  preferred  in  most  cases,  a  peculiarity  also  of  the  Car.  Bur. : 
io6a,  1073,  1153,  1293,  i33a,  1343.  Imperfect  rhyme,  quite  rarely 
occurring  in  artistic  poetry  after  1190,  may  be  observed  in  the  fol- 
lowing cases:  37,  4  laszen  (Ian)  enkan;  37,  23  art :  salt;  48,  6 
nunnen :  darunden  (darunnen?);  48,  9  nunn:jung\  53,  18  ge- 
schehen  -.flihen.  The  fact  that  even  the  unaccented  e  can  bear  the 
rhyme,  as  e.  g.  in  65,  21,  is  entirely  in  harmony  with  the  rhyth- 
mical laws  of  German  popular  poetry,  which  frequently  allow  a 
strong  accent  on  weak  syllables. 


113U4H 


38 

Still  more  important  proof  for  the  age  of  our  songs  may  be 
obtained  by  observations  from  the  structure  of  the  strophes.  It 
is  certainly  true  that  Tilemann's  attention  was  principally  directed 
to  the  "  wise,"  i.  e.  the  musical  melody  of  the  songs  he  recorded. 
The  following  remark  will,  however,  show  that  the  words  and  their 
strophic  structure  did  not  escape  his  notice.  Pie  says  in  the  year 
1360:  "Item  in  disem  selben  jare  vurvvandelten  sich  dictamina 
unde  gedichte  in  Duschen  lidern.  Want  man  bit  her  lider  lange 
gesongen  hat  mit  funf  oder  ses  gesetzen,  da  machentdi  meister  nu 
lider  die  heissent  widersenge,  mit  dren  gesetzen.  Auch  hat  ez  sich 
also  vurwandelt  mit  den  pifen  unde  pifenspel  unde  hat  ufgestegen 
in  der  museken,  unde  ni  also  gut  waren  bit  her,  als  nu  in  ist 
anegangen.  Dan  wer  vur  funf  oder  ses  jaren  ein  gut  pifer  was 
geheissen  in  dam  ganzen  lande,  der  endauc  itzunt  nit  eine  flige." 
Is  it  not  strange  that  Tilemann,  who  noticed  this  change  so  care- 
fully, should  not  have  preserved  us  at  least  one  of  those  songs  of 
five  or  six  strophes  which  in  that  year  became  unfashionable  ? 
With  but  three  exceptions  the  recorded  songs  consist  of  one 
strophe  only,  and  a  comparison  of  one  of  those  exceptions  (53,  17), 
called  by  him  a  "lit  unde  widergesenge,"  with  the  Meisterlieder 
accessible  to  me '  disclosed  no  relation  whatever.  The  simple 
answer  to  our  question  will  therefore  be  that  it  is  the  old  mono- 
strophic  form  of  the  popular  German  song  which  we  have  here 
before  us,  a  form  which  is  given  by  the  improvisatory  nature  of 
this  kind  of  poetry.2  The  same  form  is  found  in  the  Car.  Bur. 
and  the  oldest  specimens  of  the  Minnesong,  so  that  it  is  quite  safe 
to  say  that  all  the  old  German  love  poetry  of  which  we  have  no 
documents  consisted  of  monostrophic  poems.  The  entire  absence 
of  songs  of  five  and  six  strophes  can  be  taken  as  another  proof 
that  Tilemann  consciously  distinguished  between  Meisterlieder  and 
that  poetry  which  he  recorded. 

It  is  a  well  known  fact  that  the  old  Germanic  "  Urvers  "  of  four 
accents,  twice  or  four  times  repeated,  constituted  the  old  Germanic 
"  Urstrophe  "  as  it  appears  e.  g.  in  Otfrid.  Among  the  songs  of 
our  chronicle  we  meet  this  strophe  twice,  65,  2,  and  in  the  "  Non- 
nenlied,"  48,  5.  There  are,  however,  several  songs  composed  in 
a  strophe  which  differs  very  much  from  this  old  and  simple  form. 
Comparing  it  with  other  known  strophes  we  might  be  inclined  to 

1  K.  Bartsch,  Meisterlieder  der  Kolmarer  Handschrift ;  Goedeke-Tittmann, 
Liederbuch. 

8Cf.  Scherer,  Deutsche  Studien,  I  333  ;  Burdach,  ibid.  165. 


39 

declare  it  a  variety  of  the  old  popular  Moroltstrophe,  but  a  more 
careful  inspection  will  show  this  to  be  impossible.  According  to 
Scherer's  investigations,  based  upon  the  theories  of  Mullenhoff 
(Zeitschrift  fur  d.  Altertum,  XVII  569  ff.,  and  Deutsche  Studien,  I 
283  ff.),  the  Moroltstrophe  developed  from  the  old  custom  of  length- 
ening the  last  of  the  four  verses  constituting  the  old  German 
strophe.  The  first  half  of  this  "  Langvers,"  separated  from  the 
latter  part  by  a  caesura,  was  inserted  as  a  new  verse  in  the  strophe, 
and,  since  it  does  not  rhyme  with  any  of  the  other  verses,  is  called 
41  Waise."  As  a  further  peculiarity  of  strophes  containing  a 
"  Waise,"  Scherer  pointed  out  that  a  monosyllabic  (stumpfe) 
Waise  will  always  appear  between  feminine  rhymes  and  a  dis- 
syllabic (klingende)  Waise  between  masculine  rhymes.  Since  a 
Waise  may  be  placed  before  any  one  of  the  four- verses  of  the  origi- 
nal strophe,  we  get  strophes  of  five,  six,  seven  and  eight  verses.  In 
my  opinion  Mullenhoff-Scherer's  theory  of  the  development  of  the 
"  Waise  "  is  somewhat  mechanical,  and,  for  various  reasons,  princi- 
pally musical  ones,  I  believe  that  the  Waise  is  a  separate  verse 
introduced  into  the  strophe  of  four  verses  after  an  old  German 
custom.1  Yet,  whether  we  accept  Scherer's  theory  or  not,  we  will 
not  be  able  to  explain  the  strophe  of  the  Limburger  songs  by  the 
Moroltstrophe.  The  usual  form  of  the  latter  is  : 

4  —  masc.  a 

4  —  masc.  a 

4  —  masc.  b 

4  w  fern,     c  (Waise) 

4  —  masc.  b 

of  which  there  are  several  varieties,  all  agreeing,  however,  in  having 
the  Waise  immediately  before  the  last  verse.  The  form  of  the 
strophe  of  three  songs  in  our  chronicle,  on  the  contrary,  is  : 

4  w  fern,     a  or,  4  —  masc.  a 

4  —  masc.  b  4  ^>  fern,    b 

3  w  fern,    c  (Waise)         4  —  masc.  c  (Waise) 

4  v~>  fern,    a  4  —  masc.  a 
4  —  masc.  b  4  ^  fern.    b. 

It  can  easily  be  seen  that  this  strophe  has  none  of  the  peculiari- 
ties of  the  Moroltstrophe :  the  position  of  the  Waise  before  the 
last  verse  and  the  distinction  of  masculine  rhyme  and  dissyllabic 

1  Cf.  R.  Becker,  ibid.  42  ;  but  also  R.  M.  Meyer,  Grundlagen  des  Mittelhoch- 
deutschen  Strophenbaus. 


4o 

Waise.  We  find,  however,  in  all  the  songs  composed  after  this 
form  a  strong  pause  after  the  third  verse,  the  close  of  the  first  sen- 
tence even  typographically  indicated  by  a  period.  Among  all  the 
strophes  of  the  old  popular  poetry  I  found  a  similar  form  only  in 
the  very  old  strophe  of  the  Car.  Bur. : 

nah  mine  gesellen  ist  mir  we. 
Gruonet  der  wait  allenthalben  : 
wa  ist  min  geselle  'alselange  '? 
Der  ist  geriten  hinnen, 
owi,  wer  sol  mich  minnen? 

Richard  M.  Meyer,  in  his  exceedingly  interesting  and  suggestive 
treatise  quoted  above  (Grundlagen  des  Mhd.  Strophenbaus,  79), 
has  pointed  to  the  fact  that  in  two  old  songs  preserved  under  the 
name  of  Dietmar  von  Eist,  37,  4  ;  37,  18,  a  similar  pause  may  be 
noticed.  He  further  compares  M.  F.  3,  7;  3,  12,  and  several  of 
Neidhard's  popular  songs,  and  finds  in  the  form  a,  a,  b  |  ,  a 
reminiscence  of  the  Itjopahattr  of  the  Edda,  as  he  sees  in  the  old 
Otfridstrophe  a  reminiscence  of  the  Kvipuhattr.  I  believe  that 
the  first  three  verses  of  our  songs  in  question  have  preserved  the 
same  reminiscence  of  the  Ljopahattr.  And  although  the  position 
of  the  rhymes  in  our  songs  is  more  artistic  than  that  in  the  Otfrid- 
strophe (a,  a,  b,  b),  I  think  that  their  more  artistic  arrangement  is 
a  device  to  bridge  over  the  pause  after  the  third  verse.  Should 
the  Moroltstrophe,  as  Meyer  supposes,  also  have  arisen  from  the 
Ljopahattr,  then  the  form  of  our  strophe  would  still  be  a  highly 
interesting  and  peculiar  document  for  the  transition  of  alliterative 
into  rhymed  poetry. 

An  excellent  illustration  of  this  process  may  probably  be  found 
in  the  strophic  structure  of  53,  17.  The  repetition  of  the  first 
three  verses  in  the  responsorium  will  at  least  show  that  the  form 
a,  a,  b  was  still  felt  as  a  strophic  whole,  while  the  alliterations :  hoffen, 
heiles,frauwen,fruntlich,flihen,  etc.,  are  additional  reminiscences 
of  its  antiquity.  In  the  later  development  of  German  popular 
lyrics  this  form  is  dropped  almost  entirely  ;  only  once  have  I  found 
it,  in  the  Ambraser  Liederbuch,  No.  81.  The  question,  however, 
has  frequently  occurred  to  me  whether  the  tripartite  form  of  the 
various  strophic  structures  of  the  Minnesingers  has  not  developed 
more  organically  from  the  Limburger  strophe  than  from  the 
Moroltstrophe. 

Summing  up  the  results  of  these  investigations,  I  believe  we  are 
justified  in  drawing  the  following  conclusions : 


The  singular  position  of  the  Limburger  Chronik  in  the  literature 
of  the  fourteenth  century,  and  its  great  value  for  the  history  of 
German  literature  in  general,  are  principally  due  to  its  author's 
interest  for  the  poetical  phenomena  of  his  time. .  While  he  faith- 
fully recorded  important  facts  concerning  the  Minnesong  and 
religious  poetry,  his  greatest  merit  consists  in  the  preservation  of 
contemporary  specimens  of  popular  songs  which  cannot  be  classed 
with  any  of  the  existing  forms  of  artistic  poetry.  We  must  there- 
fore consider  them  as  documents  of  a  popular  poetry  which  devel- 
oped by  the  side  of  the  poetry  historically  known  to  us.  A  careful 
comparison  of  its  contents  and  form  with  that  of  earlier  and  later 
popular  poetry  makes  it  highly  probable  that  German  folksongs 
have  existed  since  the  oldest  times,  although  we  do  not  possess 
documents  for  all  the  various  periods  of  its  history.  The  language 
and  the  metrical  structure  of  the  Limburger  songs  furnish  especially 
strong  proofs  of  the  antiquity  of  popular  German  love-poetry. 
The  songs  of  the  Limburger  Chronik  are  therefore  very  important 
documents  for  throwing  light  upon  the  character  and  development 
of  the  earlier  as  well  as  of  the  later  German  Volkslied.1 

JULIUS  GOEBEL. 

1  It  is  gratifying  to  me  to  find  that  Edward  Schroder,  the  able  editor  of 
Scherer's  Literaturgeschichte,  in  an  essay  on  Die  erste  Kiirenbergerstrophe 
(Zeitschr.  f.  d.  Alt.  XXXII,  i  Heft,  137  ff.)  has  reached  the  same  results 
regarding  the  importance  of  the  Limburger  songs  for  the  study  of  the 
older  German  lyrics.  The  strophe  which  Schroder  compares  with  the  first 
Kiirenbergersong  in  order  to  reconstruct  the  text  of  the  latter  was  excluded 
from  my  discussion  on  account  of  its  didactic  nature.  Its  metrical  form  is, 
however,  a  variety  of  the  same  which  we  find  in  37,  13  ;  45,  5;  53,  17,  and 
which  I  have  attempted  to  explain,  p.  464  ff. 


>*. 


This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below 


Mfe* 


A    000  993  803     6 


